The online game streaming site Twitch was recently hacked putting thousands of online poker players who use it to broadcast their game at the risk. In an official announcement on its blog, Twitch stated that some personal information of the users may have been compromised in this hack attack. However, the type of information and category of users attacked were not disclosed.
Here is the full announcement:
“We are writing to let you know that there may have been unauthorized access to some Twitch user account information.
For your protection, we have expired passwords and stream keys and have disconnected accounts from Twitter and YouTube. As a result, you will be prompted to create a new password the next time you attempt to log into your Twitch account.
We also recommend that you change your password at any website where you use the same or a similar password. We will communicate directly with affected users with additional details.”
Twitch has recently hit the popularity charts after Jason Somerville, the most viewed online poker streamer in the world was signed as a sponsored pro by PokerStars. Now, thousands of poker streamers might be at risk of information theft in terms of cards getting revealed to the opponents while they play despite of broadcasting with a time-delay. Moreover, viewers are also vulnerable to the theft of credit card details as they need to pay for enhanced watching experience.
This has come just after a week of the incident we found on TwoPlusTwo poker forum when a number of PokerStars account were hacked and entire bankroll of those accounts were stolen. However, PokerStars denied any possibility of security breach at their end and sent a note to all such users asking to change their password and other security options.
Here is the full note of PokerStars as posted by one of the users on TwoPlusTwo:
“Your account has been frozen as we have determined it was accessed from a foreign location without your knowledge. We have conducted a full investigation into your account and we believe that your PokerStars password may have been compromised.
Our facts to support this are as follows:
The logins to your account show no failed attempts; whoever accessed your account knew your password perfectly.
Computer finger printing technology is utilized by our Security Team in order to determine which computer your account was accessed from. In this case, our investigation concludes that your account was accessed from a foreign computer where no logins were previously detected from. It is therefore possible that your password has been compromised.
With regards to the bankroll in your account, unfortunately we have been unable to recover funds lost.
To conclude this matter, we would like to advise you that PokerStars will not be liable for funds lost on your PokerStars account. PokerStars will not be held liable for any losses as a result of insufficient security measures to ensure that your personal details remain secured. This is in accordance with the sections 10.2 and 10.3 of our Terms of Service which state your responsibilities as an account owner.”
Now, that web hackers have targeted first PokerStars and then Twitch, poker players need to be more cautious about security options and passwords of their accounts. At the same time, these site administrators also need to upscale their security features to prevent any such activity in future.