Reddit says user data between 2005 and 2007 breached

Social media network Reddit said on Wednesday a hacker broke into a few of its systems and accessed some user data, including current email addresses and a 2007 database backup containing old encrypted passwords.

A copy of an old database backup containing very early Reddit user data from the site’s launch in 2005 through May 2007 was accessed by the hacker, the social media network said.

"Although this was a serious attack, the attacker did not gain write access to Reddit systems; they gained read-only access to some systems that contained backup data, source code and other logs," Reddit's founding engineer Christopher Slowe wrote here on Reddit.

Slowe said Reddit learned on June 19 an attacker compromised a few of its employees’ accounts between June 14 and June 18.

The breach was carried out by intercepting text messages that were meant to reach employees with one-time login codes, Reddit said, adding that it was notifying the affected users.

Slowe said the firm hired its first head of security nearly three months ago. “So far he hasn’t quit”.