DreamHost forces password resets amid ongoing service disruption

DreamHost has reset passwords for some email and FTP/SFTP users after an incident affected its File Manager and webmail services.

The company is now requiring account owners to set new credentials before affected users can regain access.

The disruption began on October 23 and remained active in the company’s latest update, posted October 25 at 9:32 p.m. PDT. DreamHost said it emailed recovery instructions to all impacted account owners while work to restore its browser-based File Manager continued.

Customer notifications posted online recommend checking email forwarding settings and removing any unfamiliar destinations. The message says affected passwords have expired and no replacements have been assigned, leaving individual users unable to access their mailboxes or files until their account administrator intervenes.

DreamHost provides website hosting, domain registration, and email services to individuals and businesses. The company says it serves more than 400,000 customers in over 100 countries and hosts more than 1.5 million websites, blogs, and applications. It has not disclosed how many customers are affected by this incident.

DreamHost’s initial October 23 notice described connectivity problems with the File Manager interface. Later that day, the company reported that some webmail users had been signed out or encountered login errors, and announced precautionary password resets that subsequently extended to FTP/SFTP users.

The company initially asked customers to wait for instructions because password changes made before its reset process finished would be overwritten. That guidance changed on October 24, when DreamHost confirmed the resets were complete and account owners could immediately assign new passwords.

Account owners must restore access

The customer notification says only the DreamHost account owner can set replacement passwords for affected users. DreamHost also states it cannot contact individual mailbox or FTP users directly, so administrators must notify them and distribute new credentials.

For email accounts, administrators should open Mail > Manage Email in the DreamHost control panel. FTP/SFTP passwords can be changed under Websites > SFTP Users & Files. The latest public instructions advise allowing up to 15 minutes for password changes to take effect.

DreamHost has also fixed a problem that caused some Professional Email customers to receive a “Failed to edit” error when attempting to change passwords. Customers who encountered it should retry.

The status page lists disruptions affecting the File Manager, email hosting, and webmail, while website hosting and the main account control panel remain operational.

Affected account owners should navigate directly to panel.dreamhost.com, assign new passwords, review mailbox forwarding rules, and inform their users. Email applications using the expired credentials will also need the replacement passwords. DreamHost stresses that it will never ask customers to disclose their passwords by email.