Fan fiction archive AO3 offline after security incident, user data may be exposed
Users are being told to change any passwords reused from the site, as the archive may return in a degraded, read-only state.
The Archive of Our Own, the fan fiction site run by the Organization for Transformative Works, went offline on October 29 for what was first described as maintenance, with restoration estimated at up to four weeks. Later updates confirmed a security incident still being scoped, and the operators said they could not rule out that the user database was compromised, which includes emails, usernames, IP addresses and hashed passwords. Donor data is held on a separate system, and the core archive and associated data such as bookmarks and kudos are said to be intact. Users are being told to change any passwords reused from the site, and when it returns it may run in a degraded, read-only state with further intermittent downtime. With around 11 million users and over 18 million works, the outage matters well beyond niche fandom, since streaming platforms regularly mine the site for adaptation material.
Why it matters
The outage reaches well beyond niche fandom: AO3 has about 11 million users and more than 18 million works, and it is a source that streaming platforms regularly draw on for adaptation material. Users whose database may be compromised face exposure of emails, usernames, IP addresses and hashed passwords, and anyone who reused a password on the site should change it. Even after restoration, the archive is expected to run degraded, with further intermittent downtime.
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