This does NOT relate to any project code
You may have seen in announcements the FreePBX and Asterisk related IRC channels were officially moved to https://libera.chat/
Freenode is under new ownership and has at best been limping a long. Today in all of their wisdom someone hit the reset switch on everything clearing all users and channels.
The issue:
Some irc names are trusted and can be seen in search history to know you are talking to someone who serves in some official capacity. Project channels are often owned by someone with authority which also allows you some trust while sharing information. IRC has essentially made it so anyone can assume these chats and any channel ownership on a first come, first serve basis.
Risk
Generally there is no risk if you just stay off of freenode. The irc module hasn’t been updated in a long while, probably best to dump it for a proper client if you are using it still.
What to do
Use official channels for support such as these forums.
For IRC make sure you are using https://libera.chat/