Reddit hackers are demanding a $4.5 million ransom and API price changes

A ransomware group claims responsibility for a hack into Reddit’s systems earlier this year – and demands not just money but policy changes.

BlackCat, a ransomware group, said it was behind a February phishing attack on Reddit, as previously reported by sleeping computer. in the post Shared by researcher Dominique Alfieri BlackCat claims to have stolen 80GB of data from Reddit and threatens to release it publicly if requests are not met. the group Wants Paying $4.5 million in damages for the data and also demanding Reddit revert planned API pricing changes that spurred protests from users and moderators last week.

at the time of penetration, Reddit said The hackers used a “sophisticated, highly targeted” phishing attack to access documents and internal data, including contact information for employees and advertisers. The company confirmed that the hackers did not access user data that was not public.

Reddit declined to comment on the log on the hack. sleeping computer Reports of the BlackCat hack and the incident revealed by Reddit in February are the same.

BlackCat’s new demands about API pricing changes follow a contentious discrepancy between Reddit’s leadership and some of its most engaged users. After Reddit announced that it would start charging third-party app developers a fee—potentially millions of dollars a year—many of the best subreddits disappeared in response, restricting new postings and shutting down public access. In an interview with the edge, Reddit CEO Steve Hoffman said the platform was “never designed” to support third-party apps and that the company would not roll back the proposed changes.