Another day, another data breach. Hackers have targeted Twitch this time and leaked a wealth of sensitive information that includes the platform’s source code, user payout history, and an unreleased Steam competitor from Amazon Game Studios. The data breach was made available to the public in the form of a 125GB torrent, which was accessible through the anonymous messaging board, 4chan.
The leak was initially reported by VGC and was uploaded to 4chan on Wednesday from someone that intended to “foster more disruption and competition in the online video streaming space.” They would go on to add that “their [Twitch’s] community is a disgusting toxic cesspool.”
For anyone doubting the validity of the leak, it was corroborated by the Amazon-owned company to both VGC and through an official statement made on its Twitter account.
Supposedly the data was retrieved as early as Monday. It is yet another challenge the streaming service is facing, which includes an ongoing hate raid issue. Here is a full list of what the data leak includes:
- The entirety of Twitch’s source code with comment history “going back to its early beginnings”
- Creator payout reports from 2019
- Mobile, desktop and console Twitch clients
- Proprietary SDKs and internal AWS services used by Twitch
- “Every other property that Twitch owns” including IGDB and CurseForge
- An unreleased Steam competitor, codenamed Vapor, from Amazon Game Studios
- Twitch internal ‘red teaming’ tools (designed to improve security by having staff pretend to be hackers)
Protect your account —
For anyone that uses the platform we recommend changing your password and enabling two-factor authentication in the chance that your personal information was compromised, as some people on Twitter have pointed out that the torrent includes encrypted passwords. Here is a basic rundown of how to do so:
- Access settings by clicking on your avatar
- Select security and privacy, and scroll down to security settings
- Click on two-factor authentication to see if it’s in effect, if not you can follow the instructions to activate it but will need a phone on hand
Despite Twitch’s actual source code leaking, one thing still remains shrouded in mystery: The whole Dr. Disrespect ban. It’s a shame no information regarding the real reason the popular streamer was outed from the platform got included in the leak. I guess some things are better left untouched.
