Twitch leak: do you need to change your password?

A huge file over 135 GB has been uploaded. It would contain a lot of confidential information about Twitch, including the source code of the platform. It costs nothing to change your passwords while waiting to learn more. And above all, activate two-factor authentication.

A wind of panic has been blowing through part of the web since October 6 2021, and in particular on the Twitch video platform. This Wednesday morning, a huge file of over 135 GB was uploaded by an alleged hacker, which would contain a lot of ‘confidential information on the Twitch platform .

Numerama was able to confirm the existence of this file, its size and its circulation on sites like 4chan, where Internet users are anonymous. Its content remains, to this day, unverified.

Twitch and a platform used by many videographers, media and individuals to distribute videos live. It is extremely powerful, especially in the world of video games. It was bought by Amazon in 2014 for nearly one billion euros .

What would be in this huge file? According to our information and those shared by Internet users ensuring that they have opened it, we find in particular all of the source code of Twitch since its inception as well as on mobile, the code of the SDKs and AWS services used by Twitch, but also information on the turnover of the streamers of the platform since 2019.

Do you need to change your Twitch password right away?

Whether you are an individual or a pro, and you have an account on the platform, do you have to worry?

Basically, you have to be wary of all leaks, especially those that are claimed by anonymous. Note that to date, no password seems to have leaked, even if some Internet users assure that it is possible that this happens, in a potential “sequel” to this first leak. It is also possible that this is never the case, or that, since this information is supposed to be encrypted, no hacker can do anything interesting with it, in terms of malicious use.

However, it is never too much to change your password, especially when the situation is still unclear. And above all: activate double-factor authentication on your account .

Also it might be a good idea to change it twice: the first time immediately, to potentially prevent immediate damage, a second time a little later, if it turns out that a security vulnerability has really been exploited. In this case, this change will be appropriate when Twitch has said that it is safe and certain to have secured all external access to their platform.

We are currently waiting for a response from Twitch to our questions.

How to change your password on Twitch

If you want to be careful, you can easily change your account password on the platform. Here is the procedure:

• Appointment on the Twitch home page;
• Click on the small icon of your profile top right;
• Go to settings ;
• Click on the tab “ Security and confidentiality

”;

• Then click on “change password”.