Reddit Locks User Accounts Due to ‘Security Concern’

This week Reddit locked down some user accounts after detecting unusual activity on those accounts.

The lockout occurred as a result of Reddit’s security team investigating attempts to log into users’ accounts through a credential stuffing attack. In a post published by Reddit, the company claims the issue stems from users’ use of simple passwords or the reuse of credentials across multiple website and services.

Credential stuffing attacks work by hackers using stolen passwords from previous data breaches – meaning that if one site is compromised, all accounts using that same username and password combination are impacted.

However, Reddit users complained they were locked out of accounts that used strong passwords and did not use the same email address as other online accounts, leaving many to believe that a breach of Reddit’s part could be the cause of this unusual activity.

Other Reddit users claim to have been locked out of accounts when the activity page shows they were the only ones accessing the account.

Users can unlock accounts by resetting their passwords. NNT highly suggests resetting passwords immediately and choosing a unique, strong password that’s not being used on any other website or service provider. We also suggest enabling two-factor authentication to help secure your account moving forward, a security suggestion clearly defined by the Center for Internet Security's CIS Control 5:  Controlled Use of Administrative Privileges.