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Twitch has recently undergone a data breach in which an anonymous hacker leaked 125 gigabytes of data. Much of this data was proprietary source code and streamer revenue. The anonymous hacker, operating from 4chan, posted the majority of the site’s source data on torrent on October 6. The leak had been labeled “Part One” which suggests that a second one may ensue.
While it appears that no user data had been harvested from the hack, the hacker could have had access to login credentials and full credit card numbers. Following the hack, Twitch had requested many of its users to change their passwords in case the credentials are exposed.
Richie L., an 11th grader at AISG, reacted negatively toward the hack, stating, “Twitch sucks and always has but allowing straight access from a system security error is just sad.”
Another 11th grader at AISG, Ryan C., said,” Man those guys at Twitch were pretty stupid. I don’t really watch Twitch, but that platform is like Valve without innovation. No public disclosure of company direction while somehow failing to produce anything good.”
What had followed after the hack was public outrage, not over Twitch’s server incompetency, but over the revenue of streamers. Much of the public had been under the impression that their favorite streamers had been paid much less than they in fact were. What ensued was memes and jabs at streamers when they received donations. Twitch enables users to a message to your streamer with your donation. Many of these donation messages included taunts about how much the streamers made and how much they needed the money.
The future of Twitch and cyber attacks remains unclear. With the leak of the site’s source code, Twitch may receive more laced malware and sensitive data leaks in the future from malicious individuals. All that Twitch has done thus far has been damage control, which does not bode well for the company, despite their almost monopolistic market share in the streaming industry.
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