Hackers have been targeting all areas of the internet lately. From corporations, to small businesses and even secret service servers are being hacked. Latest reports also indicate that the gaming industry is being affected, having Valve’s Steam platform be one of them.
A group of hackers are reportedly selling some user data belonging to Steam users on a Russian dark web forum. The Steam accounts in question are said to be sold for $15 each, having them be extremely cheap to buy, making them a great alternative for users who do not wish to spend a fortune populating their list of games.
The information however states that the hackers have not actually hacked Steam’s servers in order to acquire the accounts. It is said that they most probably gathered them from users who were unaware they were giving away the accounts to the hackers in question. Either way, it seems that Steam’s servers are safe.
One possible outcome that led to the accounts being hacked in the first place comes from Alex Holden, chief Information security officer at Hold Security. He states that users who want to collect and unlock each and every achievement in games might have paid hackers to unlock those hard-to-reach ‘trophies’ and in the process had their accounts hacked as well.
Another way the hackers might have acquired the user data is through the Community Portal. Hackers often try to spoof the website, having gamers connect to a fake page in which their accounts are stolen by simply typing in their account id and password.
Users are yet again urged to proceed with caution when logging in on websites and check for Valve’s SSL certificate encryption to validate the authenticity of the website they are on as well as not give their accounts and especially their account password to anyone.
Thank you Ubergizmo for providing us with this information
Worthless; without the account host’s email, the account would take seconds to regain.
You mean worthless if people keep steam guard on. A lot of times accounts can be gained other way’s. In the past a lot of hackers gathered them via hacking community gaming forums and matching up emails and passwords to hacked user forums and finding a wealth of accounts of emails, and then stealing steam accounts from there. Wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of these are obtained the same way. It’s a problem when people use the same password for websites as their email. Especially when it’s a simple password.