The world’s largest Lego marketplace, BrickLink, was offline for the best part of a week due to “unusual activity” on the platform. As of writing, it has been restored. The outage began on the evening of Thursday, November 5, and service was restored on Thursday, November 12
In a statement, BrickLink said it took the market offline to secure the site, protect its members and “ensure the integrity of BrickLink.” It said its investigation confirmed that some usernames and IP addresses were accessed, as well as a very small number of email addresses.
BrickLink confirmed that no passwords or payment information were accessed during the breach and that it will contact affected members directly with further information.
The marketplace will waive seller fees for November and December as a result of the incident. However, the Bricklink’s accompanying message board, The Studio Forum, will remain offline until further notice.
Bricklink was set up by Lego aficionado Dan Jezek in 2000. After changing hands twice, it was bought by the Lego Group in 2019. The website says it has 1.3 million registered accounts in 199 countries.
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Some users also reported payment issues during the incident, though it is unclear whether these were connected to the breach. Earlier this week, Lego collector Melanie Hoskin told BBC News that she had been sent several payment requests for a limited-edition pre-order she had already paid for. She alleged Lego did not believe her payment had gone through, and had threatened to ban her from BrickLink. Lego told the BBC it is not aware of wider payment issues.
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I’m a reporter covering weekend news. Before joining PCMag in 2024, I picked up bylines in BBC News, The Guardian, The Times of London, The Daily Beast, Vice, Slate, Fast Company, The Evening Standard, The i, TechRadar, and Decrypt Media.
I’ve been a PC gamer since you had to install games from multiple CD-ROMs by hand. As a reporter, I’m passionate about the intersection of tech and human lives. I’ve covered everything from crypto scandals to the art world, as well as conspiracy theories, UK politics, and Russia and foreign affairs.
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