Twitch Gets Hit By Data Breach; Source Code Leaked

Twitch was hit by a data breach, the live-streaming platform owned by Amazon.com Inc. said on Wednesday, without providing further details.

An anonymous hacker claimed to have leaked Twitch data, including information related to the company's source code, clients, and unreleased games, according to Video Games Chronicle, which first reported the news of the hack.

Twitch confirmed the data breach and said its "teams are working with urgency to understand the extent of this". The company declined to comment further and said it would “update the community as soon as additional information is available”. 

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The hacker's motive was to "foster more disruption and competition in the online video streaming space", according to the Video Games Chronicle report.

About 125 GB of data was leaked, including information on Twitch's highest-paid video game streamers since 2019, such as a $9.6 million payout to the voice actors of the popular game ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ and $8.4 million to Canadian streamer xQcOW, the report said.

"Twitch leak is real. Includes significant amounts of personal data," cybersecurity expert Kevin Beaumont tweeted. 

Twitch, an online esports platform with more than 30 million average daily visitors, has become increasingly popular with musicians and video gamers where they interact with users while live-streaming content.

The platform, which was boycotted earlier this year by users for not doing enough to block harassment, previously made a move to ban users for offences such as hate-group membership and credible threats of mass violence. 

(Reuters)