Hackers Hijack HBO Max's Reddit Account to Spread Malicious Ads
HBO Max's official verified Reddit account was hacked. Over roughly 48 hours, hackers posted 108 malicious ads. The breach was confirmed by researchers at cybersecurity firm Hudson Rock. The incident first came to light when a Reddit user spotted ads posted by the verified account u/hbomax.
Hudson Rock researchers found that the hackers ran ads promoting an HBO Max download program, AI tools, developer software, and Mac utilities. The researchers noted that because the ads came from an official verified account, users had little reason to suspect they were fake.
The ads pitched a program that appeared to be a native HBO Max app for macOS. However, HBO Max does not offer a native Mac app, and its official support page directs Mac users to watch at HBOMax.com instead.
Users who clicked through the ads landed on a page that, according to Hudson Rock, instructed them to copy and paste commands into their terminal rather than offering a download button. Hudson Rock flagged this request as a red flag.
The key lesson of the incident, researchers said, is that attacks need not target HBO Max accounts specifically — hijacking verified accounts and borrowing familiar company names to lower users' guard is a tactic likely to spread.
