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Twitch reportedly defaced with pictures of Jeff Bezos

Users report seeing images of the Amazon founder in the background of games.

Bree Fowler Senior Writer
Bree Fowler writes about cybersecurity and digital privacy. Before joining CNET she reported for The Associated Press and Consumer Reports. A Michigan native, she's a long-suffering Detroit sports fan, world traveler, wannabe runner and champion baker of over-the-top birthday cakes and all-things sourdough.
Expertise cybersecurity, digital privacy, IoT, consumer tech, smartphones, wearables
Bree Fowler
2 min read
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It's been a tough week at Twitch.

Amazon

Twitch  was reportedly defaced for a few hours early Friday, with pictures of Jeff Bezos  replacing background images in  games .

According to The Verge, which cited Twitch users on Twitter and Reddit, users saw images of the Amazon founder in the listings for GTA V, Dota 2, Smite, Minecraft, Apex Legends and other games on the Amazon-owned streaming service. Company officials didn't immediately return a request for comment.

This cyber vandalism comes just days after Twitch confirmed what appears to be a large data breach, pointing to an "error in a Twitch server configuration change" that exposed some data to the internet. 

The leaked data, which took the form of a 125GB torrent anonymously posted to a 4chan message board, allegedly included the Twitch's source code, reports on creator payouts and details about an unreleased Steam competitor from Amazon Game Studios

There was no indication that login credentials were exposed, Twitch said. It added that full credit card numbers are stored elsewhere and therefore were not exposed. 

Twitch is one of the world's top streaming sites, with roughly 2.5 million people viewing streams at any given moment. It became popular as a way for gamers to share livestreams of them playing video games, giving spectators a chance to discuss what's happening on screen and pay for it via subscriptions.

The site has since expanded to become a place where people share cooking lessons, stream travel experiences and just chat, though gaming remains a huge draw. The company was acquired by Amazon for $970 million in 2014 as part of the retail giant's gaming push.