- A hacker said he had 89 million recordings on Steam users for sale
- Steam denied that one of his systems had been hacked
- The data is probably not as damaging as it was originally feared
Recently, it has been said that the Steam game platform had undergone a major security violation, with up to 89 million user accounts supposed to have their identification information sold on the Dark Web. But new information has been revealed that shows that it was not a hacking at all – but there are still things you can do to ensure the safety of your account.
As we initially pointed out, a known cybercriminal had claimed to be in possession of a database made up of 89 million STEAM user records, including telephone numbers and punctual access codes. The pirate tried to sell the database for $ 5,000, which is a strangely low sum for such a large amount of data.
It had been suggested that Twilio could have been the source of hacking, and the company provides access code services to a time – but Twilio denied having been raped. And now Steam himself confirmed that he was not hacked either.
In a publication of news on his website, Steam said that “we examined the leak sample and determined that it was not a violation of Steam systems”. In addition, Steam added that “disclosed data were not associated with telephone numbers with a STEAM account, password information, payment information or other personal data”.
How to improve your account safety
We still do not know exactly where the data disclosed come from, but it seems that it is much less a serious situation than the fact initially.
The unique access codes are only valid for 15 minutes, and once this period has expired, they cannot be used. And without knowing which vapor has the telephone numbers to which the intruders cannot do much with them. This means that data in the leak is not very useful now, especially since the violation contained any vital account data or personally identifiable information.
However, that does not mean that you should not think of hardening the security of your Steam account. If you use a low password – or have used other accounts – it’s time to change this in something more secure. Enlighten the help of one of the best password managers and you don’t even need to think or remember a password yourself, because the password manager manages this for you.
In addition to this, you can activate two -fact factors on your Steam account by logging in by selecting your username in the upper right corner of the Steam website, then selecting the account details. From there, choose safety and devices from the left sidebar and choose an authentication method. You can see a code sent to your email address or use the Steam Guard mobile authenticator, accessible from the Steam Mobile application.
Although this incident is not as prejudicial as it is fearing, it is always a good reminder to improve the safety of all your online accounts. A violation can be devastating, even if it was not a disaster at the end.
