LEGO BrickLink website now back up and running
BrickLink has confirmed that its LEGO marketplace is now back up and running, following a recent prolonged shutdown.
We first reported on the issues that the BrickLink team had been having with its LEGO Marketplace on November 4. The site was offline for a prolonged period due to what was confirmed as ‘unusual activity’ by ‘unauthorised individuals.’
BrickLink’s stores, price guide, catalogue and all other services were suspended for days while the issue was being investigated, with official communication only coming via limited updates. BrickLink issued a statement on November 7 revealing that ‘a very small percentage of our accounts may potentially have been accessed by unauthorised individuals’ and that the site would be closed ‘for a bit longer.’
However, the good news is that normal service now appears to have resumed once more, with the BrickLink team releasing updates via social media to that effect, and the following statement posted on the site’s own forum:
“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’s happened.
“As many of you will 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 an abundance 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 so far that our systems were compromised.
“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.”
A quick check on the site confirms that BrickLink is indeed back up-and-running and all customer services seem to be active. BrickLink’s statement goes on to say that if members have any questions or concerns, they can contact the team directly.
It’s not yet known what (if any) longterm effects the recent downtime may have for BrickLink and its customers, but the recent issues will surely have raised concerns regarding site security going forward.
To read more on the BrickLink situation, be sure to check out our recent round-up of events right here.
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