Archive of Our Own (AO3) is down after a security incident; the Organization for Transformative Works says it cannot rule out theft of the user database and expects the site to stay down for at least two weeks
The Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), the fan-run nonprofit behind fan fiction site Archive of Our Own (AO3), said in a post dated 30 October 2026 that it had detected evidence of a security incident on AO3 earlier that day and is still in the early stages of response and determining its scope.
The OTW says no AO3 data has been deleted, and that while it does not currently believe the user database was stolen, it is unable to rule it out.
It says the AO3 database contains account information that may include username, email address, IP address and a hashed version of the password.
The OTW says AO3 does not collect real names, and that donor information is held in an entirely separate system never linked to AO3 and has not been exposed. It recommends, as a precaution, that users change their passwords on any other sites where they use the same password as on AO3. The OTW expects AO3 to be down for a minimum of two weeks and possibly up to four weeks, and says it may bring the site back in a degraded or read-only state before then.
It has not said what caused the incident. (source: Organization for Transformative Works)
- Product
- Archive of Our Own (AO3) fan fiction archive, run by the Organization for Transformative Works
- Versions
- n/a — service incident
- Exploited in Australia?
- unknown
- Patch to
- AO3 users: if you used your AO3 password on any other site, change it there now, as the OTW recommends, and use a unique password for each site. Watch for phishing emails that mention AO3 or the outage, and follow the OTW's official channels for the next update.