If you regularly shop or sell on BrickLink.com, the largest online LEGO marketplace, you’re probably aware that the site has been down for several days as an emergency measure. This was a significant hurdle for LEGO fans who rely on the site to build new projects, run stores for full or part-time income, or just for reference (BrickLink has the most comprehensive and accurate list of LEGO parts and sets ever released). The site finally reopened yesterday, and the BrickLink admin team sent out a summary of what happened. You can read it below.
Dear BrickLink members,
Welcome back and thank you for your patience. We were down for longer than anyone would have wanted. Now that we’re back up and running, we can share with you what has happened.
As many of you know, we received a threat and ransom demand on Friday, November 3rd. We’d been aware of and actively managing some limited suspicious activity since mid-October, with unauthorized sellers offering products at huge discounts and fraudulently accepting payment from buyers.
As soon as we were aware of the potential escalation on November 3rd, we put the site into maintenance mode out of caution. We did this to protect our members and keep complete control of the platform while investigating.
We found that a relatively small number of BrickLink accounts may have been accessed. It is important to note that there is no evidence that our systems have been compromised so far. At this stage, we believe this was a ‘credential stuffing’ incident, where someone obtains lists of usernames and passwords from a third party, often illegally, and opportunistically tries to use them on a website.
Although we know that the BrickLink site was not breached, we’ve further
strengthened our security. We take the safety of BrickLink and our members very seriously and will continue to step up security across the platform.
We’ve informed people where we have reason to believe that their accounts or stores may have been impacted and reminded members of ways they can make their accounts safer and more secure by practicing good data security. Keep your systems up-to-date with the latest patches, use security software, and create strong, unique passwords for each website you use.
Again, we’re sorry for the interruption and inconvenience this has caused you. If you have any questions or concerns, have a look at the FAQ for more details, or reach out to customersupport@bricklink.com.
As a precaution, the BrickLink team asked that all members update their passwords. So the next time you go to the BrickLink site, you will be walked through the process of resetting your password by following the prompts during login. (Make sure you use a unique password that you don’t use on other sites.)
It’s great to see that the site is back up and running and LEGO fans can continue buying and selling. Were you affected by the BrickLink downtime? Do you have any questions or concerns about the event? Feel free to share and discuss in the comment section below!
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Good to see that Bricklink is back. Is nothing sacred anymore?
It’s the money. It’s always the money.
Unfortunately, that’s usually the case…
Yeah, unfortunately these things happen. The internet is like the Wild West sometimes!
I’m glad they were able to get it back up. All kinds of crazy rumors were circulating on social media about the hack. So crazy. Who would go after a hobby site?!
See my earlier response. It’s not a small hobby site, it’s fairly lucrative.