Twitch Says Server Misconfiguration Caused Streamers' Data Hacking

The Twitch data hack has plagued streamers. (photo: doc. unsplash)

JAKARTA – Following a massive Twitch data breach earlier this week, Amazon's streaming platform cited a server misconfiguration that caused and allowed hackers to access their data.

As reported on Wednesday, October 6, an anonymous hacker leaked 125GB of confidential data on 4Chan, including details about the Twitch streamer's payments and the site's source code. Twitch has since confirmed the breach and has reset all stream locks for the safety of all parties.

According to the leaked data, Twitch steamers Critical Role, xQc, and Summit1G were the highest-paid creators on the platform between August 2019 and October 2021. While information about these three streamers has yet to be officially confirmed, another creator on the platform, Ludwig, confirmed that the leak streamer income is right. According to the breakdown, 81 streamers made at least $1 million from the streaming platform over the past few years, while 262 streamers made $500.000.

In a blog post, Twitch said that the data was leaked due to "an error in the Twitch server configuration," indicating that it was a faulty update. The company added that they are continuing to investigate the breach urgently and that there is no reason to believe the login credentials were revealed, nor have the credit card numbers been revealed because the full credit card numbers are not kept by the company.

However, the situation remains fluid and the investigation is still ongoing, so it remains to be seen if any other confidential data was compromised in the incident.

The data breach was initially reported Wednesday by the Video Games Chronicle (VGC), which claimed anonymous hackers had released large amounts of confidential data belonging to the streaming service. The leaked data, the report says, includes not only information about the streamer's payments but also the source code of the site itself. As a precaution, Twitch reset all stream locks and posted links for users to get new ones.

According to Twitch, streamers using Twitch Studio, Streamlabs, Xbox, PlayStation, and the Twitch Mobile App don't need to manually update their broadcast software with their new key, and neither do OBS users who have linked their Twitch account to the software.

However, OBS users who have not done so will need to manually enter their new key to be able to start a new stream. While it may be a bit of a hassle, it's a low price to ensure the safety of all users and the Twitch platform in general.