While your Reddit account probably isn’t as crucial to your life as many others, it can still cause ... More
Discovering that your Reddit account has been hacked isn’t a disaster on the same scale as, say, finding that your email or phone have been taken over. However, it can lead on to other problems — which is why hackers may be interested in doing it. And with many Reddit users spending hours on the site every day, it can be a pretty major inconvenience for some. And along with losing access, you may find that someone is posting messages in your name. We look at how your Reddit account can be hacked, and what you should do if it is.
How To Tell If Your Reddit Account Is Hacked
There are a number of signs that your Reddit account has been hacked, most of which may not be immediately obvious.
Perhaps the clearest is receiving an email notification from Reddit that the password and/or email address on your account have been changed — but you didn’t request changes yourself. You may also spot “authorized” apps on your profile that you don’t recognize or unusual IP history on your account activity page. And you may start seeing votes, posts or comments that you didn’t make, or private messages that you didn't send.
Sign 1: Email Notification
Perhaps the clearest sign that your Reddit account has been hacked is when you receive an email from Reddit telling you that your password and/or email address have been changed — but that’s not a change that you made yourself. It is, unfortunately, a sign that a hacker has taken over your account and is now in control.
Sign 2: Unfamiliar Apps
This one isn’t quite so easy to spot, but may well be a sign of a compromised Reddit account. If apps you don't recognize appear on your profile, it probably means that a hacker installed them for their own, nefarious purposes.
Sign 3: Unusual IP History
You’ll only spot this sign of a hacked Reddit account if you specifically check it yourself, but if you go to your account history, you may find that there’s been some unusual activity — an IP address that’s not your own accessing your account. And if it's not you, then it's somebody else — quite probably a hacker.
Sign 4: Unfamiliar Posts And Replies
One sign that your Reddit account has been hacked is the mysterious appearance of votes, posts or comments that you didn’t make. The hackers may have a number of reasons for this: anything from blackmail to scamming other Reddit users.
What Should You Do If Your Reddit Is Hacked?
The first thing you should do if you think your Reddit account has been hacked is check that it hasn’t been locked or suspended for some other reason.
If you think your account really has been compromised, you should submit a request to the company, explaining the issues you’re having. Unfortunately, users report that the process of getting your account back can take up to a month. You should also check that the hackers haven't accessed any of your other online accounts, and change passwords — especially if they're the same or similar to your Reddit one. Finally, you should alert any other users that you interact with that your account has been hacked, and warn them to be on the lookout for suspicious activity themselves.
Step 1: Check That It’s Really Been Hacked
It may be the case that your account hasn’t actually been hacked: it's simply been locked or suspended for some other reason. If this is the case, you’ll see a red warning when you log in, along with a security message asking you to reset your password. You’ll also receive a message in your Reddit inbox with more information and instructions as to what to do next.
Step 2: Contact Support
If you still think your account has been compromised, you should head for customer support and explain the problems you're having. You'll need to give your email and username. Go to this online form, select Security problems, then I think my account has been hacked.
Step 3: Check Other Accounts
If a hacker has been successful in compromising your Reddit account, there’s a good chance that they’ve been able to get into your other online accounts too — especially if you've used the same or similar password. Check your other accounts to make sure they're ok, and change all passwords to be on the safe side.
Step 4: Warn Contacts
One sign of a hacked Reddit account is the appearance of posts, comments and votes that you didn’t make. They may simply be embarrassing, or they may form part of a campaign to hack or scam other users too. Either way, it's a good idea to let people know that the posts have nothing to do with you.
How Can You Protect Your Reddit From Hackers?
Protecting your Reddit account from hackers involves the same best practice as for any other online account. Be wary of what you post — don’t give away too much personal information.
You should make sure that you have a unique, hard-to-guess password, a username that isn’t related to your real identity and you should turn on two-factor authentication if you haven’t already — it may take a little longer to log in, but this gives an effective extra layer of security. It may also be worth using a different email account specifically for Reddit, to make sure there's a proper separation between all your accounts; and for even more peace of mind, you may wish to use a virtual private network. And, as always, don’t click on suspicious links.
Bottom Line
While your Reddit account probably isn’t as crucial to your life as many others, it can still cause you problems if it's hacked — particularly if the hackers then use it as a route to cess your other accounts, or to scam your contacts. Luckily, though, it's pretty straightforward to restore control.