According to Polygon, the Twitch accounts of Xbox and PlayStation were compromised by hackers yesterday. The third party posted unauthorized messages and offensive language to the channel profiles of Xbox, PlayStation, as well as eSports League.

Based on the report, the highlights from past Twitch broadcasts were posted on the channels with descriptions and titles altered. The posts were on various topics, which ranged from malicious homophobic messages and racist slurs to fake game announcements about Gears of War and Fallout to digs at Sony and Microsoft about the announcement regarding Square Enix's Rise of the Tomb Raider being a timed Xbox exclusive.

According to a representative from Twitch, the accounts might have been compromised at Gamescom, where Twitch was running, by someone or a group that was able to access computers that were logged in. Twitch said that they are already deleting the offensive VODs as soon as they locate them and likewise alerting individual teams at the Gamescom in Cologne, which will run until Sunday, Aug. 17.

Most affected were the accounts of PlayStation and Xbox, which are not currently showing archived videos, an indication that the scrubbing of previous broadcasts and highlights were quite extensive. A Twitch representative explained that they temporarily removed the highlights and previous broadcasts from the affected channels as a precautionary measure, according to VG24/7.

The hackers were also able to erase several videos, and it is still unknown if these are recoverable.

It is still unknown how the hackers were able to access the accounts, but it could be due to human error. Online security is something not to be taken for granted, and everyone should create unique and strong passwords that should not be exchanged over unsecured lines. Likewise, passwords should be changed often.

This could be very embarrassing for the channels affected by the hacking because Twitch is very much a part of the gamer culture, as many people rely on streaming. Twitch may also be at the receiving end of pointed questions should there be indications that there is a hole in the security protocol of this streaming video company.