Twitch streamers facing “Hacked by atomic” threat while live

Twitch streamers are raising concerns about a malicious hack by an individual named atomic, who is using hacked accounts to post offensive messages, threats, and Discord links.

While Twitch generally maintains a strong level of security against external hacks, an unusual situation has arisen since this morning. Streamers have been reporting a “hacked by atomic” message appearing on their profile when live. Twitch has yet to officially acknowledge or address this alleged breach. However, given the rapid influx of reports, it is possible that the platform will take action soon.

On September 9, 2023, a streamer claimed to be hacked by Atomic while being live on Twitter. Eventually, many other small accounts came forward with the same issue, posting screenshots and videos of “hacked by atomic” messages appearing in their live chats, along with a threat and a link.  

Lots of discussion in Discords, r/Twitch, and Twitter about streamers having their accounts compromised and posting links/profanity.

It appears the commonality among all of them is an extension called Pando (a virtual stream pet.) pic.twitter.com/6DBplIRSEp

— Zach Bussey (@zachbussey) September 9, 2023

“Hacked by atomic. If you don’t join (discord link), we will f–k you up,” the message read. 

What does Hacked by atomic on Twitch mean?

Twitch streamers are sharing videos of atomic hacking their accounts and posting threats in the chat using the owner’s account.

According to compromised account owners, the culprit is posting offensive messages with their names. While this is undeniably a significant issue, it’s important to note that the hacked accounts themselves remain up on Twitch. The cause behind the hack is currently unknown, but some streamers are blaming plug-ins, third-party extensions, and sources. 

Most streamers claim that the culprit is gaining access to accounts through Pando, a Twitch extension. All those hacked had Pando as their extension in common, making it highly likely that the hacker may have found a leak in the said plug-in. However, those who quickly disabled the extension and changed the password have also claimed to suffer the same fate. 

Amazon Prime and StreamAlertsTV are also among the current extension(s) that might be compromised, but currently, it’s tough to put the blame on one plug-in. In any case, hacked streamers are advising others to change their account passwords and disable all Google plug-ins until Twitch finds the root cause and the culprit behind the hacks.