Twitch has reportedly fallen victim to a massive data leak that has exposed the streaming platform’s source code and creator payout reports dating back to 2019.
An anonymous hacker has claimed responsibility for leak, and when posting a 125GB torrent link on 4chan said they wanted to “foster more disruption and competition in the online video streaming space.”
As reported by VGC, which verified that the files mentioned on 4chan are publicly available and also spoke with one anonymous Twitch source who said the leaked data is legitimate, it’s believed the data was obtained on Monday before eventually being shared online.
Along with the source code and creator payout details, the leak also includes Twitch’s commit history; mobile, desktop and console clients; proprietary SDKs and internal AWS services; internal ‘red teaming’ security tools; other Twitch-owned properties like IGDB and CurseForge; and an Amazon Game Studios project codenamed ‘Vapor,’ which is described as an “unreleased Steam competitor.”
Those who’ve trawled through the leak have indicated on Twitter that encrypted passwords may have also been compromised, and warned users to shore up their accounts.
The person seemingly behind the leak has said this is only the first batch of information they plan on releasing. Twitch has yet to officially comment on the matter, but according to VGC’s anonymous source is aware of the breach.
Game Developer has reached out to Twitch parent company Amazon for comment.
Update: Twitch has confirmed there has been “a breach” in a brief statement posted on Twitter. The company said it is working to understand the scale of the leak, and has pledged to update users as soon as more information comes to light.
“We can confirm a breach has taken place,” reads a tweet. “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.”