If you’re a user of Amazon’s Twitch service, you have been hacked. The company has released a notice to its members that their personal details have been stolen by “unauthorized access” to Twitch accounts.
The Amazon-owned website allows you to live-stream games as they play, and to interact live with other users. Amazon bought the company last year. It has more than 50-million unique visitors a month. It is a popular service.
The company’s official blog reported that it has “expired passwords and stream keys and has disconnected accounts from Twitter and YouTube,” in an attempt to stem the damage done. Users are prompted to create a new password when they log on to their Twitch accounts.
“We also recommend that you change your password at any website where you use the same or a similar password.” The company says it will communicate directly with affected users with additional details.
According to the company, compromised information could include user names, email addresses, passwords and even some limited credit card information. Twitch stresses that it does not “store or process full credit or debit card information, so your card number is safe.”
But who knows for sure in an age where it seems that nothing is private or completely protected?
This cyber-attack joins the list of a number of notable breaches in recent months. From eBay to iCloud to the Sony hack, our information seems more and more vulnerable. According to security specialist, Mark James, gaming sites have always been a lucrative hit for hackers.
James says there is no fail-safe advice for what to do when your information is stolen, but changing your password is one of the first things to do. Using unique passwords for each site you visit is also advised. This way, if your password is found, it is useless on another site.