Amazon's Twitch streaming platform hit by massive data breach, personal data leaked

Data about the earnings of top game streamers is part of the 125GB leak
Data about the earnings of top game streamers is part of the 125GB leak. Photo credit: Getty Images

Amazon's live streaming platform Twitch has confirmed it was hit by a data breach, 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.

A link to the data was posted on the 4chan discussion board.

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

BBG Calc, a streamer who earns money by playing battle royale game Fortnite, told the BBC "The earnings list got my figure 100 percent correct", with another saying the numbers were "accurate".

Cyber security expert Kevin Beaumont tweeted that the Twitch leak was real and included significant amounts of personal data.

"If the people involved truly want to fight toxicity in gaming, they might want to look into a mirror as that kind of leak is toxic behaviour."

Video Games Chronicle also reported the data leaks included encrypted passwords, with popular Gaming Careers Twitter account advising all users to change passwords and enable two-factor authentication (2FA).

Twitch, an online e-sports 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 offenses such as hate-group membership and credible threats of mass violence.

Reuters / Newshub