On Friday, moderators of over 70 groups on Reddit Inc. were hacked. Messages in support of Donald Trump were then posted in both English and Mandarin, reaching millions of subscribers. Among the subreddits defaced were r/space, r/food. r/Japan, r/nfl, r/cfb and r/podcasts, all popular subreddits. According to SiliconAngle, while it is yet unknown how these moderator accounts were hacked, Reddit has found that many have not been using two-factor authentication. The popular social news aggregation site has further notified users to remain vigilant for any signs of compromise such as emails suggesting a change in account password.
“The Reddit hack is just the latest hack to underscore the need for users to always use two-factor authentication when possible. Since it appears the hack may have been the result of a credential stuffing attack (where passwords are used that were obtained in previous data breaches), it also emphasizes the need to never use the same password for multiple websites and other online services,” shares Chris Hauk, Consumer Privacy Champion at Pixel Privacy. “I believe we will continue to see increased political hacks and attacks as we grow closer to election day in the United States. These attacks may even be considered a “normal” part of politicking in the near future.”
