Incident Report: Mandatory Password Resets at DreamHost

DreamHost is currently managing a service disruption that has impacted several key components, specifically the File Manager and Webmail services. As a security measure, the company has initiated a password reset process for a subset of users.

Incident Workflow

The following diagram illustrates the progression of the event from initial detection to the current recovery phase:

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Chronological Update Log

October 25, 2026

11:43 AM PDT — IDENTIFIED The distribution of instructional emails to affected account owners is nearly complete, with the remainder expected to be sent today.

• You must wait for the email to reset your password. $\rightarrow$ You can now reset passwords immediately.
• Account Owners: Navigate to panel.dreamhost.com $\rightarrow$ Mail Manage Email or Websites SFTP Users Files.
• Propagation Time: Please allow a window of $\approx 15$ minutes for changes to sync.
• Sub-users: If you are an FTP or email user, please reach out to your primary account owner.
• Professional Email Bug: Some users encountered a Failed to edit error. If this occurs, simply attempt the reset again.
• Current Outage: The File Manager (files.dreamhost.com) is still unavailable.

Security Warning: DreamHost will never request your password via email.

October 24, 2026

6:09 PM PDT — IDENTIFIED Instructional emails are being dispatched in batches. Account owners are encouraged to use the control panel at panel.dreamhost.com rather than waiting for the email.

Important:

1. Allow 15 minutes for the new password to activate.
2. FTP/Email users should contact their account owner.
3. Notifications will not contain login links.
4. Ignore any unsolicited password reset emails.

10:37 AM PDT — IDENTIFIED The mandatory reset for affected SFTP/FTP and email users is now finished. Owners can update credentials via the panel immediately. Batch emails are still being sent.

12:25 AM PDT — IDENTIFIED Work continues overnight. Password resets are being processed in groups, and notifications are being sent as each group is finalized.

October 23, 2026

10:13 PM PDT — IDENTIFIED An issue affecting webmail and FTP/SFTP access has been confirmed. As a safety precaution, passwords for certain users are being reset.

Note: At this stage, users were told to wait for the email, as manual changes made before the system reset would be overwritten.

8:01 PM PDT — INVESTIGATING The team is continuing the investigation; updates to follow.

5:20 PM PDT — INVESTIGATING An incident is affecting multiple services.

• files.dreamhost.com (File Manager) is offline.
• Webmail users may be logged out or see errors.
• Precautionary password resets are underway.
• Action: Account owners can use the Manage Email page or log in directly at panel.dreamhost.com.

2:20 PM PDT — INVESTIGATING The Operations team is looking into connectivity failures specifically affecting the File Manager interface.

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User Action Checklist

If you are affected by this incident, please complete the following:

• Identify if you are the Account Owner or a Sub-user.
• If Owner: Log into panel.dreamhost.com.
• Update passwords under Mail Manage Email or Websites SFTP Users Files.
• Wait 15 minutes for propagation.
• If Sub-user: Contact the primary account owner for a new password.

Service Status Matrix

Technical Summary

The total duration of the identified disruption can be represented by the time delta: $\Delta t = T_{current} - T_{start}$ Where $T_{start}$ was October 23 at 2:20 PM PDT.

To check your current connection status, you might run a simple ping test in your terminal:

ping files.dreamhost.com
# Expected result during incident: Request timed out or 404/503 error