A large number of Reddit accounts have been temporarily locked as a precaution while the service's administrators investigate possible unauthorized access to their systems. Reddit staff member “Sporkicide” made a statement regarding the matter.
While it did not announce the exact number of accounts that were temporarily locked, it said that “a large group of accounts has been temporarily locked for security reasons”. The same announcement continues by stating that the most likely explanation for this event is credential stuffing. Many of the users used the same passwords for their accounts as they had on different platforms (e.g. Facebook). So in the event that username and password combinations were leaked from another service, it was quite likely that hackers would try these combinations on various other sites. So those who used the same usernames and passwords on many online services could have a serious problem.
So what Sporkicide suggests in the Reddit thread he created is that users use unique STRONG passwords, as well as enable two-factor authentication.
However, the responses to the Reddit thread show something strange. Many confirm that on their now locked account they not only used unique STRONG passwords, but also changed them within the last 7 days after Reddit prompted them. Some even had two-factor authentication enabled.
Finally, many have criticized the way Reddit works. The registration system is too simple, as it doesn't even require an email account and relies on the basic reCaptcha, which has long been bypassable.
