Twitch, the popular streaming service owned by Amazon, appears to be the victim of a hack that has exposed a considerable amount of user and service information.
Video Games Chronicle broke the news of the 125GB torrent of Twitch data posted anonymously on a 4chan messaging board. The hack covers everything from the source code for Twitch.tv to three years of details on creator payouts.
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The hack has been verified as real and while the data leaked so far does not include passwords or other personal information for individual users (beyond the creator earnings), it is important to note that the leak was identified as "part one." Given the sheer volume and wide-ranging data that is captured in this leak, it seems likely that the hacker could have that data, it's just a question of whether they will release it.
Twitch has officially confirmed the breach via its Twitter account, but has not offered any insight into how it happened or the full extent of what data was lost. We'll update this article with any additional comments from Twitch.
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.October 6, 2021
If you have a Twitch account, you should change your password and ideally turn on two-factor authentication (2FA) for an additional layer of protection. As always, we recommend using an authentication app for 2FA as there are too many potential problems with using your phone number for 2FA.
The breach may have been motivated by ongoing harassment concerns surrounding Twitch with the anonymous hacker using the #TwitchDoBetter hashtag started by that movement.
For now, the leak mostly amounts to a curiosity for streaming fans. On top of the Twitch creator earnings and source code, the leak also detailed Amazon's potential Steam competitor that is transparently codenamed Vapor.
How to change your password on Twitch
Changing your password on Twitch is a quick and easy process, we can have your new password in place in less than a minute.
- In your Twitch account click on your profile image in the upper-right
- Select Settings
- Click on Security and Privacy
- Select Change password
- Enter your old password, then repeat a new password and click Change Password
How to set up two-factor authentication on Twitch
Setting up two-factor authentication is a bit more involved than changing your password, but it will be worth it and if you already have a 2FA method it should still take less than a minute. If you have never used 2FA before then you should quickly take a look at our how to use 2FA guide first and then come back.
- In your Twitch account click on your profile image in the upper-right
- Select Settings
- Click on Security and Privacy
- Select Set Up Two-Factor Authentication
- Click Enable 2FA
- Enter a cell phone number to receive an authentication code
- Type the confirmation number from the text message and click continue
- Scan the QR code using your 2FA app, enter the code and click Submit
- Click Done
That's it, your Twitch account is now secured!
