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Possible Twitch.tv Security Breach
New submitter FalleStar writes: Today, the world's largest video game livestreaming website, Twitch.tv, posted the following blog entry: "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." The full details of the breach have yet to be released. Back in a 2013 blog post, Twitch reported that one of their CDNs had mistakenly exposed user account information, and they mentioned that their user passwords are hashed, but did not indicate whether or not they are salted. In addition to the blog post, Twitch users are being notified of the intrusion by email. According to one such email, compromised data may include the last IP address a user logged in from, as well as some credit card information — but not full card numbers, since Twitch doesn't store those.
What really intrigues me is the amount of money involved in the industry....
Shouldn't be that surprising, at the conference that was held together with Dreamhack Valencia 2011 the representative from CBSi claimed that streamed gaming generated more viewer minutes every month than SuperBowl. The dude from Swedish television said that e-sport was the only segment they had where young males weren't underrepresented.
Neither of the statements really says anything about the money involved, but it has been clear for a long time that there is a potential for a pretty lucrative industry.
As for traditional television they have been dropping viewers for a long time and they know it. Younger people don't watch TV and if this continues they might not even bother to get one. Competitive gaming could be one of the things that traditional TV needs to stay alive.