Amazon’s Twitch: Data Stolen Was Unprotected Due to Errors – Amazon Stocks in Black | 07.10.21

Twitch streaming platform has suffered a major data theft.

A stranger posted a data packet on the network which, he says, also contains the entire programming code for the service. The Amazon subsidiary has admitted that eavesdropping is to blame: data can be accessed unprotected from the Internet due to a server configuration error.

Gamers mainly use Twitch to broadcast their video game progress live. The platform has produced its own stars who have a large audience.

The published data also includes lists of alleged earnings from Twitch Streamers. Above all, however, exposing the entire technical platform could have disastrous consequences. “Due to the leak of source scripts, it can be assumed that more vulnerabilities are now being sought by other cybercriminals,” said Rudiger Trost of IT security firm F-Secure. So he warned that “more hackers are likely to follow the platform.”

At the same time, Twitch has confirmed that there is currently no evidence that users’ login data has been affected either. In addition, the platform generally does not save full credit card numbers and therefore cannot be exploited. However, the platform resets – “as a precaution” – so-called broadcast keys with which incoming live broadcasts can be assigned to individual users. This should prevent Twitch channels from being hijacked by others.

The published data showed, among other things, a huge income gap between the most prominent Twitch users, some of whom earn hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the lesser known users. Several broadcasters confirmed on Twitter that the leaked information about their earnings was true.

The published code also contained references to a yet-to-be-published competitor service to the popular Steam gaming platform and even internal software tools that are used to simulate hacker attacks on Twitch. “Jeff Bezos paid $970 million for it,” the person behind the leak on the 4Chan platform wrote while criticizing the Amazon chief. With us it’s free.

The Platformer blog asked former Twitch developers about the leak. They report, among other things, that the platform has taken virtually no internal precautions against downloading large amounts of code by employees. Although Amazon, known for its strong IT security, bought Twitch back in 2014, the platform is still running with its own security precautions, it was also said.

Shares of Twitch parent Amazon in Nasdaq trading at times rose 1.81 percent to $3,320.95.

/ so / DP / ngu

Seattle (dpa-AFX)