Reddit is often the go-to place to acquire information on specific cryptocurrencies. Virtually every coin, token, and blockchain has its own subreddit these days which contain plenty of information on those projects. However, it seems someone deliberately hacked both the Litecoin and NEO subreddits to direct people to the WaltonChain page. This was a very disturbing turn of events, as such redirection attacks are pretty uncommon in the world of cryptocurrency.
Redirecting People to WaltonChain Seems Desperate
Not too long ago, we touched upon the concept of WaltonChain. This project seemingly has a lot of momentum going for it, although it remains to be seen how its popularity came to be. It appears some community members have stooped to new lows in an attempt to bring more attention to this project. Redirecting two of the bigger subreddits to r/WaltonChain seems like a very desperate move, to say the least.
So far, no one knows how both the NEO and Litecoin subreddits were compromised in this manner. Resorting to these types of tactics are sure to irk a lot of prospective investors. Forcing people to see information they do not care about is not the solution by any stretch of the imagination.
Judging from the information we have received, it appears some moderator accounts were compromised to make this redirecting attack possible. One of those moderators was Thpiderman, although it remains to be seen how his credentials were obtained and a password reset was performed, assuming that is what happened. Thankfully, the matter was resolved fairly quickly. This was still a very desperate attempt to hype a cryptocurrency which doesn’t need such drama to begin with.
According to Thpiderman, his account was compromised in order to alter the NEO subreddit’s CSS settings. All changes have since been reverted and the account is back under his control. No further information was provided, but it goes to show Reddit moderators have to step up their game when it comes to account security.
The bigger question is what the assailants hoped to achieve by doing all of this. WaltonChain has enough attention as it is, and the people who are interested will find it regardless. For a project which is seemingly embraced by governments and other prominent service providers, the use of such shady tactics is questionable, to say the least. Moreover, it paints a very negative outlook for this project and some of its community members, as people don’t take these developments lightly in the cryptocurrency world.
In the end, the issue was resolved relatively quickly, which is what matters most. We do not know who was responsible or how the accounts in question were compromised in the first place. It is likely that such attacks will continue to happen in the future, though, as redirecting subreddits to completely different pages will remain a lucrative venture for people with less-than-honest intentions. It will be interesting to see how this “hack” affects the popularity of WaltonChain, as a lot of people aren’t too pleased with this project right now.
