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Twitch, the popular Amazon-owned video game streaming service, has suffered a massive data breach, with tons of sensitive business files being shared online.
Some of the files, viewed by NBC News, include apparent payment information for tens of at least hundreds of thousands of streamers.
Twitch is extremely popular among the legions of video gamers who stream or participate in esports competitions. About 7 million users stream videos to Twitch each month, according to the company, and streamers have the option to monetize their videos, with payout based on their audience. Amazon bought the company for $ 970 million in 2014.
It is not known exactly how the files were obtained, or by whom. On Wednesday evening, an anonymous user posted a link to download the files on the 4chan web forum, claiming it was supposed to attack Twitch due to its stranglehold on the video game streaming industry.
“Their community is also a disgusting toxic cesspool, so to foster more disruption and competition in the online video streaming space, we’ve completely pwned them,” the leaker wrote.
“Jeff Bezos paid $ 970 million for it, we’re giving it away for FREE,” the leaker added.
Twitch users have long complained that the platform is not doing enough to protect users from harassment. In September, LGBT streamers and streamers of color organized a “Day Off Twitch” boycott. Payment files cover the last three years and identify users by their user identification number. Records indicate that these payouts vary wildly, with many streamers receiving no proceeds and some receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Twitch declined to answer specific questions, but confirmed on Twitter that he had suffered a data breach and was still investigating its extent.
“This breach is massive,” said Rachel Tobac, CEO of SocialProof Security, a cybersecurity firm.
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