NEWS
by Mark Barley
Steam Has Been Hacked, Credit Card Details Possibly Compromised
Well, the unthinkable has become thinkable. Valve have confirmed that their PC streaming games service Steam have been hacked and your credit card information could have possibly been stolen.
Valve frontman Gabe Newell confirmed the grim news stating that user personal information and credit card details may have been compromised.
“I am truly sorry this happened and I apologize for the inconvenience,” Newell said in a statement.
“Our Steam forums were defaced on the evening of Sunday, November 6. We began investigating and found that the intrusion goes beyond the Steam forums.
“We learned that intruders obtained access to a Steam database in addition to the forums. This database contained information including user names, hashed and salted passwords, game purchases, email addresses, billing addresses and encrypted credit card information.
“We do not have evidence that encrypted credit card numbers or personally identifying information were taken by the intruders, or that the protection on credit card numbers or passwords was cracked. We are still investigating.
“We don’t have evidence of credit card misuse at this time. Nonetheless you should watch your credit card activity and statements closely.”
Once the Steam forums come back online, members will be required to change their passwords. Newell did reiterate that all Steam users should re-secure their accounts, especially if you use the same password for both game playing and forum use. “Our Steam forums were defaced on the evening of Sunday, November 6. We began investigating and found that the intrusion goes beyond the Steam forums.
“We learned that intruders obtained access to a Steam database in addition to the forums. This database contained information including user names, hashed and salted passwords, game purchases, email addresses, billing addresses and encrypted credit card information.
“We do not have evidence that encrypted credit card numbers or personally identifying information were taken by the intruders, or that the protection on credit card numbers or passwords was cracked. We are still investigating.
“We don’t have evidence of credit card misuse at this time. Nonetheless you should watch your credit card activity and statements closely.”
The only time frame Newell could elaborate on was "as soon as possible" for the return of the forums.
Bumstown. Population sad.