A coordinated hacking attack has hitReddit, vandalizing dozens of subreddits with material that supports the 2020 reelection campaign of President Donald Trump.
A moderator on r/SubredditDramaposteda list of affected subreddits, which includes r/NFL, r/BlackMirror, r/Food, r/Beer, r/Naruto, r/RupalsDragRace, r/DestinyTheGame, r/TheDailyZeitgeist, and many more.
https://twitter.com/crispymemed/status/1291746918696189959
“An investigation is underway related to a series of vandalized communities. It appears the source of the attacks were compromised moderator accounts. We are working to lock down those accounts and restore impacted communities,” a Reddit spokesperson said in a statement to Digital Trends.
Reddit’s security team has started fixing the defaced subreddits, but the vandalism is reportedly returning after just minutes, according to aninvestigationby ZDNet.
The post on r/SubredditDrama, which provided subreddit moderators with instructions on how they themselves can remove the vandalism, claimed that some of the hacked accounts had two-factor authentication enabled. The post also speculated that the accounts used the same combinations of usernames and passwords in other online forums with weak security, or that a third-party mobile app was compromised.
Reddit shuts down r/The_Donald
In June, after years of violating content policies, Redditshut downr/The_Donald, the Trump-supporting subreddit that was placed under quarantine last year for content that supported violence.
The shutdown of r/The_Donald came alongside Reddit’s new content policy that aimed to push hate speech out of the online community. About 2,000 subreddits were banned, including r/darkhumorandmemes, r/chapotraphouse, r/consumeproduct, r/darkjokecentral, and r/gendercritical.
