89 million steam accounts have leaked? Here is what to do

As a PC player, you may already have seen an alarm on the Internet in relation to Steam -headlines who say that 89 million Steam accounts were hacked. But you shouldn't panic.

The reports come from a contribution on the dark web, in which a suspected hacker offered alleged data records from millions of steam accounts, including one-time codes used for two-factor authentication (2FA). Sounds bad, isn't it? Except at Twilio, the service of third-party providers, which supplies the 2FA text news codes for Steam, the company was communicated with the bleeping computer that it had not found any indications of a violation or a leak.

In the meantime, however, several branches have published the original assertion of a follow-up of X/Twitter users (a possible typing error, as Mellow_Online1 refers to X on X on X in a follow-up contribution.)

So what is the deal? As bleeping computer expresses, this data could indicate a leak in the delivery system for text messages – one of three main reasons why security experts do not recommend 2FA codes via SMS. (The other two? Someone could steal their phone number to get codes, or he could redirect the codes to his own device without knowing it.) However, this is not a valve problem. Unfortunately, it is a well -known weakness in the functioning of text messages.

Update (14.01.2025, 3:20 p.m. PT): Speaking of valve, the company confirmed in a steam community post that no steam systems were injured. In the infiltrated data, “the telephone numbers with a Steam account, password information, payment information or other personal data are not linked”. Valve also says that the security reports of accounts that they have not requested (e.g. by the question of a 2FA code or a change of an account) were suspected.

Although this situation is probably nothing to do, your account is probably still at risk for other reasons. Your password is probably weaker than you think. (Just take a look at how quickly modern GPUs can crack passwords.) And you probably don't use a two-factor authentication yet.

Browse your password for something strong, random and unique. Now switch on steam protection. The better method for obtaining codes is via the Steam Mobile app on your phone.

Are you already using a good password and steam protection? For the rest you can still change your password (which should be easy and quick if you use a password manager). Also switch to the Steam Mobile app as your 2FA method if you haven't done it yet.

Take a look at the list of the authorized devices associated with your account while updating your Steam Security. Remove everyone you do not recognize.

You may not be able to trust the requirements in Dark Web Forum posts. However, strengthening your security is a process that you can cover – and you also get full control over it.