DreamHost’s web-based File Manager has been unavailable since October 23. During the outage, the company expired passwords for some email and FTP/SFTP users as a precaution. Affected users cannot sign in until the primary account owner or another privileged user sets a replacement password and shares it with them.
In an email with the subject line “Immediate Action Needed,” DreamHost asked account owners to update passwords for every email and FTP/SFTP user on their account, not just those whose passwords were expired. It also advised owners to check each mailbox for unfamiliar forwarding rules.
DreamHost says it is investigating the cause. Its updates have not confirmed that credentials were accessed, and the company has not disclosed how many accounts were affected. At the latest update, posted October 25 at 9:32 p.m. Pacific time, the File Manager remained unavailable.
Outage and password-reset timeline
DreamHost’s status page listed the File Manager, Email Hosting and Webmail interface as affected services:
| Time (PDT) | Update |
|---|---|
| October 23, 2:20 p.m. | DreamHost began investigating connectivity issues affecting the File Manager. |
| October 23, 5:20 p.m. | The File Manager went offline. Some webmail users were signed out, and the company began precautionary email password resets. |
| October 23, 10:13 p.m. | The resets were extended to some email and FTP/SFTP users. Customers were told to wait for DreamHost’s email before changing passwords. |
| October 24, 10:37 a.m. | The precautionary resets were complete. Account owners could set new passwords without waiting for an email. |
| October 25, 9:32 p.m. | DreamHost said it had emailed all affected account owners and was continuing work to restore the File Manager. |
Once a mail password is reset, the old password no longer works in webmail or mail apps such as Outlook, Apple Mail and mobile clients.
Account Owners Must Manage Password Recovery
Users can change their own DreamHost mail passwords only if they know the current password. For users whose passwords were expired during the incident, a new password must be set in the DreamHost panel by the primary account owner or a privileged user. Those without panel access should contact the account owner.
DreamHost initially told customers to wait until the resets were complete because earlier changes could be overwritten. From the morning of October 24, account owners could set replacement passwords immediately.
The company’s instructions cover every email address and FTP/SFTP user on the account. Email passwords can be managed under Mail > Manage Email, while FTP and SFTP credentials are managed under Websites > SFTP Users & Files. DreamHost also asks owners to review each mailbox’s forwarding settings and remove any forwarding addresses they do not recognize.
Owners should contact affected users by phone, text or another channel—not through their DreamHost email address. Anyone who reused an old password on other services should change it there as well. DreamHost reported that an error some Professional Email customers encountered while setting new passwords has been fixed.
The company warns that email and FTP/SFTP users do not receive password-reset emails from DreamHost. Messages asking users to reset, verify or confirm a password should therefore be treated as phishing. DreamHost says it will provide its next status update when the File Manager is restored.
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