Massive Twitch Leak Reveals Source Code, Streamer Payouts
Today is probably not a good day for the folks over at Twitch, as a massive leak has seemingly revealed a ton of information about the website. The leaked information was originally posted to 4chan in a whopping 125GB torrent. It apparently contains things like many years of Twitch source codes and streamer payout reports dating back to 2019.
According to Video Games Chronicle, which confirmed that the information is indeed accessible via 4chan, that isn't all this leaked data contains. It also reportedly contains information related to the Twitch clients for mobile, desktop, and console; information on Vapor, which is a rumored Twitch-centric competitor to Steam; and information on other brands and websites Twitch owns.
The gross payouts of the top 100 highest-paid Twitch streamers from August 2019 until October 2021: pic.twitter.com/3Lj9pb2aBl
— KnowSomething (@KnowS0mething) October 6, 2021
VGC cites an "anonymous company source" who claims that the leaked information is indeed legitimate and that Twitch is aware of the leak. Of course, with this information out there, various people have started to comb through it, and it's little surprise that payout information for top streamers has already made its way to social media. It probably won't come as a shock to learn that Twitch's top streamers are raking in cash, but they're making even more than the tweets above suggest since those numbers don't include donations processed through Paypal or sponsorship deals.
There's also been some suggestion that this data leak includes encrypted passwords, which means it's probably a good idea to change your Twitch password and enable two-factor authentication if you haven't already. If you're a streamer, you should also consider resetting your stream key, even if there isn't any direct evidence that stream keys were leaked. With a data breach of this scale, taking every precaution possible is almost certainly the best approach, especially when the consequences of leaked passwords and stream keys could be dire for those who stream as a full-time job.
It's going to take a while for people to go over this leaked compilation and confirm the information that's contained within, and according to VGC, the hacker has claimed this is only one part of the data due to be leaked. Make no mistake, this is a huge leak as it is, so the fact that there could be more information coming makes this a story to watch. Stay tuned for more.