# Archive of Our Own service outage and security incident > Developing situation record from CLSTR: https://clstr.news/situations/archive-of-our-own-service-outage-and-security-incident > Updated: 2026-11-07T16:22:06.000Z. Sources: 29. Developments: 4. The fanfiction platform Archive of Our Own (AO3) has been offline since October 29 following a security breach identified as a cyberattack. The Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), which operates the site, initially estimated the outage would last 12 hours, but later updated projections to suggest the platform could remain offline for two to four weeks. While the organization reported that stories, bookmarks, and kudos remain intact, they could not rule out a compromise of the user database, which contains usernames, email addresses, IP addresses, and hashed passwords. Consequently, users have been advised to update any passwords that may have been reused from the site. Donor information is stored on a separate system and is reported to be safe. The outage has caused significant disruption for the community, particularly for romance readers and emerging authors who use the platform as a training ground. As the investigation into the scope of the intrusion continues, the platform expects to return to service in a “degraded or read-only state” with potential intermittent downtime. In response to the downtime, the blogging platform Tumblr reported a significant surge in new users, including a 75 percent increase among those aged 18 to 25, as fandom communities migrate to alternative spaces. ## Timeline ### 2026-11-07: Archive of Our Own offline following cyberattack A cyberattack has forced the popular fan fiction platform Archive of Our Own offline for over a week, disrupting access for millions of users and creators. 2 sources. https://clstr.news/cluster/archive-of-our-own-offline-following-cyberattack ### 2026-11-05: Archive of Our Own offline following cyberattack The fan fiction site Archive of Our Own is offline due to a cyberattack, with service restoration expected to take two to four weeks. Tumblr has seen a surge in users during the outage. 12 sources. https://clstr.news/cluster/tumblr-sees-user-surge-following-archive-of-our-own-outage ### 2026-10-31: Archive of Our Own faces extended outage following security incident Archive of Our Own (AO3) faces a potential month-long outage following a security breach. While content remains intact, user data, including emails and hashed passwords, may have been compromised. 5 sources. https://clstr.news/cluster/archive-of-our-own-faces-extended-outage-following-security-incident ### 2026-10-29: Archive of Our Own faces multi-week outage The fanfiction site Archive of Our Own (AO3) faces a major outage that could last up to four weeks following an emergency maintenance period. 10 sources. https://clstr.news/cluster/archive-of-our-own-faces-extended-outage-due-to-emergency-maintenance --- Cite as: Archive of Our Own service outage and security incident. CLSTR, https://clstr.news/situations/archive-of-our-own-service-outage-and-security-incident