Fanlore data breach: 144K accounts exposed
Severity: high · Patch status: no-fix-needed · Since 2026-08-19
In August 2026, the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) identified unauthorised access to the Fanlore wiki it operates. The breach resulted in the exposure of 145k unique email addresses along with usernames and passwords stored as either MD5 or PBKDF2 hashes. OTW self-submitted the exposed data to HIBP. Exposed data: email addresses, names, passwords, usernames. The breach dates from Aug 6, 2026; Have I Been Pwned loaded it on Aug 19, 2026.
What to do
- If you had a Fanlore account, change its password and the password of any other account that reused it.
- Turn on multi-factor authentication wherever it is offered.
- Check whether your addresses are in this breach at https://haveibeenpwned.com.
- Expect targeted phishing that quotes the leaked details; verify any unexpected contact out of band.
Sources
All live incidents on Threat Watch