Exeter

Possible Breach of member data

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 TheFreecycleNetwork | Tech  Topics
Date 
Freecycle Data Breach: info for mods
 Deron Beal Sep 1   
Hey mods,
This is the email that I'm sending out to every moderator email address we have in the database. So, yes, please do contact your members with the proposed message following the "*****" below. Wanted to get this out here first. Thanks, ugh, and sorry. Please know that we are doing everything we can to get this tidied up. Deron

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Dear Freecycle Moderator,

On August 30th we became aware of a data breach on Freecycle.org. As a result, we are advising all members to change their passwords as soon as possible. The way we are doing this is via a notification at the top of www.freecycle.org with a link to a page with further info *and* we'd like to ask for your help as a local group moderator as well; we'd ask that you please also email your local members via the ModTools function for sending a notification to members. This is the quickest way to reach all local members with this info. Please note: email sending will be throttled so don’t expect members to get the email immediately; it may take a day or two to be received.

We very much appreciate your help in this regard.

In order to send this notice to local members, do the following:

a) Log in to Freecycle.org;

b) Go to your ModTools page for your local group;

c) Click on "Town Settings";

d) Click on the subheading for "Town Notices";

e) Click on "Add new notice";

f) Give it a file name like "Data Breach";

g) Give it a description name like "Breach of member data";

h) Access level: "Public";

i) Paste in the below text (under the ********);

j) Click on "Save Changes and Send Bulk Email Notice";

We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your assistance in this regard. 

Sincerely,

Deron Beal

 

-- 
Deron Beal
Executive Director
The Freecycle Network
www.freecycle.org

~changing the world one gift at a time~

The information contained in this message and any attachments is privileged and confidential and protected from disclosure. Any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited.

Copyright © 2023 The Freecycle Network (http://www.Freecycle.org). All rights reserved. Freecycle and the Freecycle logo are trademarks of The Freecycle Network in various countries.

******DATA BREACH TEXT TO SEND AS A NOTICE TO LOCAL MEMBERS BELOW THIS LINE******************

On August 30th The Freecycle Network / Freecycle.org became aware of a data breach on Freecycle.org. As local Town group volunteer moderators we have been asked to reach out to to you as as a local group member to ask that you change your Freecycle.org password as soon as possible. We very much apologize for the inconvenience. 

Further information on the breach and on how to change your password may be found here:

https://freecycle.helpscoutdocs.com/article/319-data-breach-august-2023

   [and there is a "?" on that page if you have further questions]

The breach of data includes usernames, User IDs, email addresses and hashed passwords. Because of the exposure of personal passwords we are taking every measure to quickly inform members about the need to change their passwords. If you have used the same password elsewhere, you are well advised to change the password there as well. No other personal information was compromised and the breach has been closed and is being reported to the respective privacy authorities. 

While most email providers do a good job at filtering out spam, you may notice that you receive more spam than usual. As always, please remain vigilant of phishing emails, avoid clicking on links in emails, and don't download attachments unless you are expecting them. 

Here are some useful links to help keep you safe:

https://haveibeenpwned.com/ Find out what past data breaches have involved your personal information. 

https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-recognize-and-avoid-phishing-scams#report (U.S.) Learn how to recognize phishing emails.

https://www.gov.uk/report-suspicious-emails-websites-phishing#:~:text=Forward%20suspicious%20emails%20to%20report,(%20NCSC%20)%20will%20investigate%20it. Learn how to recognize and report phishing scams in the UK

Again, we thank you for your generous gifting locally and apologize for the hassle.

Sincerely yours,

Your Local Freecycle Moderators