Twitch source code and data reportedly leaked in hack
Update: Twitch have confirmed a breach
Update 4.35pm: Twitch have confirmed that a breach has taken place, more below.
Original story 1.20pm: Twitch has reportedly been attacked by an anonymous hacker who has allegedly leaked a large amount of data, from source code to streamer earnings. A 4chan user has posted a 128GB torrent supposedly containing the leaked info, and more could be leaked down the line. There's also a suggestion that user passwords might be compromised, so now is probably a good time to change yours.
Update: Twitch took to Twitter this afternoon to confirm that a breach has taken place, saying:
"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."
The 4chan poster says the leak is intended to "foster more disruption and competition in the online video streaming space" because the community is "a disgusting toxic cesspool".
They claim the release includes source code for many elements of Twitch. Along with the "entirety" of Twitch.tv with a commit history back to its early days, they say the dump of Git repositories includes an unreleased "Steam competitor" from Amazon Game Studios, other Twitch-owned services like IGDB and CurseForge, various proprietary SDKs and services, security assessment tools, and Twitch's mobile, desktop, and console clients. Supposedly the dump also has reports of how much streamers earned from 2019 till now.
Twitter users combing through the data say the leak also includes encrypted user passwords, so it's probably worth changing your password and securing your account with two-factor authentication, just in case.
The poster further claims this is just the first part of the data leak, suggesting they have more to release in the future. Video Games Chronicle report that an anonymous Twitch source told them that the hack is legitimate, and the company is aware of the breach.
I've emailed Twitch for comment, and will update this article if I get a response.
Twitch have come under fire before for not doing enough to stop harassment on the platform. Currently Twitch are fighting hate raids, in which users harass streamers by flooding their chats with bots that spew hateful racist, sexist and homophobic comments.