Twitch, one of the most popular streaming platforms for gamers, has been hacked. The source code for the entire platform was leaked plus we also saw details about creator pay-outs released to the public. A 125 GB torrent posted by an anonymous person on messaging board 4chan claims to have all Twitch’s commit history.
The poster is hoping that the leak will help break down the monopoly in video streaming and create more disruption in the industry. Several major news publications have already verified the torrent and it appears the leak is legitimate. Besides, Twitch also confirmed that it has suffered a “data breach”, adding that it is working with urgency to understand the extent of the damage.
But what exactly does the leak include?
Well, for starters, there are details about creator pay-outs that go back three years. There is also the commit history that goes back right when the streaming platform was coming out. All the internal security tools used by the platform have also been leaked.
The hacker(s) have also released code of internal AWS services that the streaming provider has used in the past. There was also source code for Twitch in the leak including code for its mobile, desktop, and video game console platforms. Additionally, data on other Twitch tools like IGDB and CurseForge were leaked.
An unknown Steam competitor from Amazon Game Studios was also part of this massive breach. The 125 GB torrent on 4chan was labeled part 1, something that suggests that more data could be leaked in the coming days. So far, we don't think that the hacker(s) accessed the password and address information of Twitch users.
But since we don’t know yet the full extent of the hack, this could change in the coming days. For now, it seems the hacker(s) is more focused on sharing information about the company as opposed to the data of individual Twitch users. Nonetheless, it’s still a good idea to change your password for now as we continue to learn more about the extent of the breach.
Twitch has been in the middle of controversy recently and the data breach could easily put the company on the edge. The streaming platform has been struggling to deal with hate and harassment on its platform. The issue has become so serious that some Twitch streamers decided to take a day off in August to force the company to do more.
The streamers have been using the #DoBetterTwitch hashtag and interestingly enough, the hacker who posted the leak on 4chan used the same hashtag. From this, it seems like there are folks who have a bone to pick with the streaming service and could as well be regular users on the platform.
How Twitch responds to this leak will be very interesting to see. This is shaping up to be one of the biggest crises in the history of the company and considering more leaks could still come, the company has many things to do.
