Gillingham

Breach of member data

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. 

Here are the steps to change the password on your freecycle.org account:

1. On the freecycle.org website, click the 'My Account' icon (the head and shoulders logo to the top right of the web page) .

2. Click My Settings from the menu. On the settings page, scroll down to where it says Password Reset.

3. Enter your new password in the box and the confirmation box.

4. Scroll down and click the green 'Save Changes' button.

5. You will be logged out, and can then log in again with your new password.

The breach of data includes your freecycle 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. 

If you want to find out what past data breaches have involved your personal information, search online for haveibeenpwned.com 

You can also search the government website for information about how to recognize and report phishing scams.

Again, thank you for your generous gifting locally, and our apologies for the hassle.

Sincerely yours,

Your local Freecycle Moderators