Freecycle Data Breach May Have Impacted Millions of Users

Non-profit organization Freecycle announced that it had suffered a data breach incident last month. The announcement posted on its homepage states that it became aware of the attack on August 30 and as a result advises its members to change their passwords.

The US-based Freecycle Network is used by millions of people across the world to recycle used items. The organization claims to have over 9 million members across 5,000 towns worldwide.

According to the notification, it had already notified about the data breach to the concerned US authorities and UK’s data protection regulator, Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The organization is registered as a charity organization in the UK.

Freecycle’s disclosure confirms the authenticity of the sample data posted on a hacking forum in June 2023. The data set was said to contain login credentials of around 7 million members. The organization’s internal investigation reveals that the stolen information 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,” the notice read.

“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.”

In addition to the notice on its website, the company is urging grassroot volunteer moderators to reach out to other members regarding the data breach and password reset information.

The organization has provided password reset solutions to members:

1. Visit https://www.freecycle.org/home/settings/ and go to My Settings and select Password Reset option.
2. Visit https://freecycle.org/login?reset-password and request a password reset link via email.

Although no financial information was breached, the compromised users are still vulnerable to account hijacking and phishing attacks, especially where similar credentials have been used.