Notice of security breach on Ubuntu Forums site

This article is more than 12 years old.


There has been a security breach on the Ubuntu Forums site, ubuntuforums.org. We take information security and user privacy very seriously, and apologise for the breach and ensuing inconvenience.

At this time,

  • We have confirmed the attackers were able to access all user email addresses and hashed passwords on the Forums site. While the passwords were not stored in plain text, good practice dictates that users should assume the passwords have been accessed and change them. If users used the same password on other services they should immediately change that password.
  • We believe the issue is limited to the Ubuntu Forums and no other Ubuntu or Canonical site or service is affected.
  • We have begun the process of notifying by email all users whose details have been compromised.
  • We are continuing to investigate exactly how the attackers were able to gain access and are working with the software providers to address that issue. Once the investigation is concluded we will provide as much detail as we safely can.

The forums site will remain down until we can safely bring it up, and updates will be posted to the ubuntuforums.org page as they are available. Once again, we apologise for the issue.

In the meantime, if you’re using Ubuntu and need technical support please see the following page for support:

Finding Help

If you’re looking for a place to discuss Ubuntu we encourage you to check out these sites:

The Ubuntu subreddit

The Ubuntu Community on Google+

Ubuntu Discourse

Talk to us today

Interested in running Ubuntu in your organisation?

Newsletter signup

Get the latest Ubuntu news and updates in your inbox.

By submitting this form, I confirm that I have read and agree to Canonical's Privacy Policy.

Related posts

London called, and the world answered: creating a Summit without borders

When we announced that the Ubuntu Summit 25.10 would be a remote event, we knew we were taking a big step. We asked ourselves: how can we capture the spirit...

Canonical announces Ubuntu support for the NVIDIA Rubin platform

Official Ubuntu support for the NVIDIA Rubin platform, including the NVIDIA Vera Rubin NVL72 rack-scale systems, announced at CES 2026 CES 2026, Las Vegas. –...

Meet Canonical at CES 2026: A trusted foundation for your device lifecycle

This year, the Canonical team will be at Booth #10562 in the North Hall, we will be demonstrating how Ubuntu Core, Ubuntu Pro for Devices, and our partner...