June 20, 2023
Reddit was hacked in February, and the hackers have now demanded a $4.5 million ransom as well as the reversal of Reddit’s recent decision to raise API charges.
The hackers, known as BlackCat, claim to have taken 80GB of internal data, which includes employee details, advertiser data, and code. The ransomware group stated in their letter, “The Reddit Files,” that failing to satisfy their demands will result in the publication of the stolen data.
Reddit raised the API fee and demanded developers to pay more than $20 million each year to keep their app running. This hike has sparked enormous outrage among Reddit users and developers, and it is driving popular third-party apps to shut down.
According to BlackCat, Reddit has disregarded their earlier attempts to reach them, prompting them to issue a public ultimatum. The ransomware group showed little faith that Reddit would pay for the data and threatened a data release.
The sources for this piece include an article in Engadget.
