DrDisrespect's Twitch and Twitter accounts were hacked

Image source: Reddit

Mustache-and-mullet streamer DrDisrespect has fallen victim to a hack of both his Twitch channel and his Twitter account, which led to a few spicy tweets before control was reassumed. 

It's not known what happened at this point: The Twitch channel was completely gone for a while, but is currently back though offline (the viewers are expressing their displeasure in a very Twitch-like fashion) while the hacked tweets have been deleted and the account cleaned up.

The hack also reportedly impacted his personal Twitter account, which for now still has a few tweets that may or may not be from the perpetrator—they're relatively innocuous (at least compared to the ones above) but also have a certain graffiti-like styling to them. The fact that Beahm hasn't tweeted from that account since late 2017 is probably telling, too.

Some of the tweets are a bit funny from the outside, but the hacks reflect the darker side of internet celebrity status, which comes with unprecedented levels of perceived accessibility to fans and a lot of line-crossing. That typically results in things like like stream spam or personal attacks on social media, but it can also lead to privacy breaches like this and more serious threats: DrDisrespect's house was shot at with a BB gun last year, and others have been subjected to very dangerous swatting.   

It's also a reminder that two-factor authentication, while sometimes a pain in the ass, is essential. No system is perfect (and I would guess that DrDisrespect has 2FA enabled across the board, so how all three accounts were compromised simultaneously is unclear for now) but even if you're not a high-profile streamer, your odds of avoiding nonsense like this are a lot better with it than without. 

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

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