Tag Archive for: Secrets

The DeanBeat: Twitch hack exposes more industry secrets

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Perhaps the lesson of the leak of a trove Twitch‘s data, source code, and internal tools is that we can expect this to happen to just about everybody in the industry. And one of these days, perhaps we won’t have any secrets left.

This week, hackers disclosed that they had penetrated Twitch’s security and had access to just about all of its secrets and they would disclose those secrets. We don’t know if they’re trying to extract blackmail payments from Twitch, but that might be a logical assumption.

Among the secrets that leaked was a list of how much money the top streamers on the livestreaming service made in subscription revenue.

The list showed that 81 Twitch streamers have made more than $1 million on Twitch since August 2019. At the top was Critical Role, a team of voice actors who stream their Dungeons & Dragons gameplay. They made $9.6 million from Twitch payments in the past two years. Making more than $5 million since August 2019 was FaZe Clan co-owner and Call of Duty streamer Nickmercs. All of the top 25 made more than $2 million each over the two years. The BBC reported that a few streamers confirmed that the figures are accurate.

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This doesn’t include the money the streamers make on other platforms such as YouTube or how much they make with merchandise sales, sponsorships, and external donations. But the leak did reveal that Twitch takes a 50% share of creator earnings. That’s a pretty big cut considering those creators bring in the 2.5 million concurrent users to Twitch every day.

Above: Hackers, whistleblowers, and ransomware thieves seem like they are winning.

Image Credit: Getty Images

Twitch confirmed the hack was real. It said the data was exposed to the internet due to an error in a Twitch server configuration change that was subsequently accessed by a malicious third party….

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Hackers are waging a guerrilla war on tech companies, revealing secrets and raising fears of collateral damage

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A chain of recent, devastating hacks is exposing some of the Internet’s most fiercely guarded secrets, stepping up a guerrilla struggle between tech firms and anonymous hackers and raising fears that everyday Internet users could get caught in the crossfire.



An advertising board for Twitch during the 2016 Electronic Entertainment Expo video game conference in Los Angeles. (Photo by Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images)

© Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images
An advertising board for Twitch during the 2016 Electronic Entertainment Expo video game conference in Los Angeles. (Photo by Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images)

Hackers this week dumped a colossal haul of data stolen from Twitch, the Amazon-owned streaming site, revealing what they said was not just the million-dollar payouts for its most popular video game streamers but the site’s entire source code — the DNA, written over a decade, central to keeping the company alive.

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That followed the hack by the group Anonymous that exposed the most crucial inner workings of Epik, an Internet services company popular with the far right, and triggered firings and other consequences for some of the company’s clients whose identities had previously been undisclosed.

The Epik hack also made way for breaches into the websites of the Texas GOP, one of America’s biggest state party affiliates, and the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia group that contributed to the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. A California sheriff faced calls for his resignation this week after the hack showed evidence that he had been a member of the group in 2014.

The perpetrators of these hacks are distancing themselves from financially driven cybercriminals and ransomware gangs by portraying their attacks as moral crusades against what they said were the companies’ sins. In celebratory notes released alongside their data dumps, the Epik hackers said they were sick of the company serving hateful websites, while the Twitch hackers used a hashtag criticizing company efforts to confront harassment and said the site had become a “disgusting cesspool.”

“Jeff Bezos paid $970 million for this,” the hackers wrote, referring to the price Amazon paid to buy the company in 2014. “We’re giving it away FOR FREE.” (Bezos, Amazon’s founder, owns The Washington…

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Fears Chinese hackers are spying on YOUR computer as they exploit working from home to steal company secrets

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CHINESE hackers could be hacking into your computer while you work from home — and use it as a back door to steal your company’s secrets. 

Beijing’s cyber henchmen are said to be exploiting the Covid pandemic that began in its own country to rinse the West of its valuable know-how.

China state hackers are said to be targeting routers of people working from home

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China state hackers are said to be targeting routers of people working from home

The sinister warning comes from the National Cybersecurity Agency of France (ANSSI) which discovered China state hackers are targeting home routers as part of a massive cyber theft blitz to steal ideas they can then rip off.

It comes as MI5’s top boss will warn Britons to be on their guard about spying and hostile state attacks from the likes of China and Russia in the same way they are about terrorism.

ANSSI said the Chinese hacking group — known in security circles as APT31 — is targeting less secure household routers used by staff working from home as a way of breaking into their employers.

The agency warned: “[We] are currently handling a large intrusion campaign.

 “Attacks are still ongoing and are led by an intrusion by APT31. 

“It appears from our investigations that the threat actor uses a network of compromised home routers as operational relay boxes in order to perform stealth reconnaissance as well as attacks.”

The threat actor uses a network of compromised home routers as operational relay boxes in order to perform stealth reconnaissance

National Cybersecurity Agency of France

Crucially, this method allows them to steal secrets without companies and organisations knowing it has happened. 

On Monday UK’s National Cyber Security Centre said APT31 was sponsored by the Chinese government and had recently hacked Microsoft Exchange servers.

These are commonly used by people working from home, especially for email. 

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said: “The cyberattack on Microsoft Exchange Server by Chinese state-backed groups was a reckless but familiar pattern of behaviour.

“The Chinese Government must end this systematic cyber sabotage and can expect to be held to account if it does not.”

Western cyber spies fear China state hackers are exploiting the pandemic by targeting those who are working from home

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Western cyber spies fear China state hackers are exploiting the pandemic by targeting those who are working…

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US is ‘world’s top empire of hacking and theft of secrets’, says China on NSA spying row

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China on May 31 weighed in on the Danish and European media reports alleging that the United States spied on its European allies including German Chancellor Angela Merkel between 2012 and 2014. While US-China has often indulged in a public war of words, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Monday labelled Washington as the “world’s top empire of hacking and theft of secrets.” On Twitter, China’s government account stated, “As facts have proven time and again, the US is the world’s top empire of hacking and theft of secrets. With targets including not only competitors but also its allies, the US is a real master of large-scale, indiscriminate tapping and theft of secrets.” It also shared an article with the same news.

China’s remarks came after a French government official on May 31 said that if proven, the claims are “extremely serious.” Secretary of State for European Affairs in France, Clement Beaune told the country’s Info radio, “It is extremely serious, we need to see if our partners in the EU, the Danes, have committed errors or faults in their cooperation with American services.” He noted that it would be very serious if Washington actually spied on EU leaders. 

“Between allies, there must be trust, a minimal cooperation, so these potential facts are serious,” said the minister while urging that the facts must first “be verified” and then “conclusions drawn in terms of cooperation.”

US Spied On Several European Allies

The United States spied on the top politicians in Europe including German Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2012 to 2014 with the assistance of Danish intelligence, as reported by Danish and European media on May 30. Danish public broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR) said that the United States National Security Agency (NSA) had listened to Danish internet cables to spy on top politicians and even senior officials in…

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