According to a report from Video Games Chronicle (VGC) on Oct. 6, an anonymous hacker claimed to have leaked everything on Twitch, including the platform’s source code and payout information for users.
The individual shared a 125GB torrent to 4chan on Wednesday, Oct. 6. In their words, the breach was made in order to “foster more disruption and competition in the online video streaming space,” and labeled Twitch’s community as a “disgusting toxic cesspool.” According to VGC, these files are publicly available for anyone to download.
According to VGC, Twitch is aware of the data breach and has reason to believe the data may have been obtained earlier in the week, on Monday, Oct. 4. The contents of the leak reportedly expose information on the following:
- All of the streaming platform’s source code, including comment history “going back to its early beginnings”
- 2019 payout reports for creators
- Twitch clients for mobile, console and desktop
- Proprietary software development kits (SDKs) and Twitch’s internal AWS services
- Internet Game Database (IGDB), CurseForge and “every other property that Twitch owns”
- An unreleased competitor to Steam developed by Amazon Game Studios codenamed “Vapor”
- Unity code for “Vapeworld,” an unreleased chat software reportedly set to be based on Vapor
- Internal tools used by Twitch to help improve security by disguising select staffers as hackers.
The leak also allegedly lists the gross payouts for Twitch’s top 100 streamers from August 2019 to October 2021, including Ludwig, NICKMERCS and xQcOW, revealing that they’ve received millions in payouts alone (not including donations) working with the platform.
The gross payouts of the top 100 highest-paid Twitch streamers from August 2019 until October 2021: pic.twitter.com/3Lj9pb2aBl
— KnowSomething (@KnowS0mething) October 6, 2021
According to VGC, the leaker has claimed this breach to only be the first part, with more to come.
While all of Twitch was affected, concerned Twitch users can change their passwords and enable tools like two-factor authentication to heighten security on their account and lower the chances of their own personal information being compromised.
Recently, Twitch responded to user outrage over targeted hate raids by revealing verified chat and other tools to help snuff out malicious bots on their platform.
This article was updated on Oct. 6 at 11:25 a.m. ET with the following public statement from Twitch on Twitter:
We can confirm a breach has taken place. Our teams are working with urgency to understand the extent of this. We will update the community as soon as additional information is available. Thank you for bearing with us.
— Twitch (@Twitch) October 6, 2021
“We can confirm a breach has taken place,” Twitch said. ” Our teams are working with urgency to understand the extent of this. We will update the community as soon as additional information is available. Thank you for bearing with us.”
