A security breach at popular, free and open source software-focused IRC network Freenode means users need to change their passwords.

Freenode's IRC server was compromised and passwords were likely sniffed by unidentified hackers, prompting a warning to users that they should reset their passwords as a precaution.

The security breach was identified on Saturday, as a notice by Freenode explains.

Earlier today the freenode infra team noticed an anomaly on a single IRC server. We have since identified that this was indicative of the server being compromised by an unknown third party. We immediately started an investigation to map the extent of the problem and located similar issues with several other machines and have taken those offline. For now, since network traffic may have been sniffed, we recommend that everyone change their NickServ password as a precaution... Since traffic may have been sniffed, you may also wish to consider any channel keys or similar secret information exchanged over the network.

UK-based Freenode boasts around 80,000 users. ®