Reddit hackers demand $4.5 million ransom and API pricing adjustments

A ransomware group is claiming accountability for a hack on Reddit’s techniques earlier this yr — and demanding not simply cash however coverage adjustments.

BlackCat, a ransomware group, says it was behind the February phishing assault on Reddit, as beforehand reported by Bleeping Pc. In a submit shared by researcher Dominic Alvieri, BlackCat claims to have stolen 80GB of knowledge from Reddit and threatens to launch it publicly if calls for aren’t met. The group desires a $4.5 million payout in change for the information and likewise calls for Reddit roll again its deliberate API pricing adjustments that spurred consumer and moderator protests final week.

On the time of the hack, Reddit mentioned hackers had used a “refined and highly-targeted” phishing assault to get entry to inner paperwork and information, together with contact data for workers and advertisers. The corporate maintained that the hackers hadn’t accessed consumer information that wasn’t public.

Reddit declined to touch upon the report concerning the hack. Bleeping Pc reviews that the BlackCat hack and the incident disclosed by Reddit in February are the identical.

BlackCat’s new calls for round API pricing adjustments observe a contentious back-and-forth between Reddit management and a few of its most engaged customers. After Reddit introduced it could start charging builders of third-party apps — probably to the tune of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} a yr — many high subreddits went darkish in response, limiting new posts and shutting public entry. In an interview with The Verge, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman mentioned the platform was “by no means designed” to assist third-party apps and that the corporate wouldn’t pull again from its proposed adjustments.