Outages · Developing
Archive of Our Own is still offline after a security incident
OTW cannot rule out stolen account information. Change passwords you reused on other sites while AO3 remains offline.
What happened
Archive of Our Own (AO3) remains offline after an October 29 security incident.
Its owner, the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), says no site data was deleted.
On November 6, OTW kept its recovery estimate of two to four weeks. Its status page still lists an outage on November 11.
Some older update and like notifications arrived late. OTW says those messages are genuine.
Who’s affected
AO3 account records can include usernames, email addresses, internet connection addresses and passwords stored in a scrambled form, according to OTW.
OTW says donor details are separate and were not exposed.
If someone learns a reused password, they can try it on another account.
Sources: AO3 outage updates and password advice; How To Recognize and Avoid Phishing Scams
What to do
- Change passwords on other accounts where you used the same password as on AO3.
- Give each account a different password.
- Type archiveofourown.org yourself before you enter an AO3 password.
- Wait for AO3 to return before changing its password there.
- Read the official AO3 status page for updates.
Sources: AO3 outage updates and password advice; How To Recognize and Avoid Phishing Scams
What we do not know yet
OTW does not believe someone stole the user database, but it cannot rule that out.
The group gives no exact return date.
Guides for your next step
Sources
- AO3 outage updates and password advice
Organization for Transformative Works
- How To Recognize and Avoid Phishing Scams
Federal Trade Commission