Users report apparent AO3 security breach; site expected offline for two weeks
- Status
- Unverified: only social posts report this so far
- Kind
- Breach
- Vendor
- Archive of Our Own
- Product
- Archive of Our Own (AO3)
- First seen
Summary
A Mastodon user says AO3 appears to have suffered a major security breach and that the site is expected to be down for at least two weeks, with a possibly degraded version sooner. The poster notes AO3 says it collects little personal information, but this is an unverified user report, not a confirmed statement from AO3.
If you use Archive of Our Own
Change your AO3 password now
Do not reuse this password on other sites
Watch AO3's official channels for confirmed details
Change your AO3 password and any other accounts that reuse it
Watch for phishing emails referencing AO3 or account notices
Follow AO3's official status announcements for confirmed details
What the sources say 6
· Mastodon: “Looks like AO3 had a major security breach.” Source
· Bluesky: “Archive of Our Own (AO3) has suffered a major security incident and warns it could remain completely offline for up to 4 weeks while engineers investigate a potential user database leak.” Source
· Bluesky: “Earlier today, we detected evidence of a security incident on AO3.” Source
· Bluesky: “THE DAY i decided to make an account... first day down for data breach” Source
· Bluesky: “Earlier today, we detected evidence of a security incident on AO3.” Source
· Bluesky: “OTW doesn't think the user database was stolen but can't rule it out.” Source