Steam Christmas Chaos: Security Issue Granted Access to Other Users' Accounts
Christmas for Steam users was a chaotic one because a security issue prevented users from accessing their accounts but granted them entry to unknown accounts.
Many Steam users aired out their plight online as they were unable to log into their accounts on Christmas Day. The security issue that cropped up allowed them to access other users' accounts using their registered addresses, but the problem was resolved promptly, according to The Bitbag.
Twitter and NeoGaf were flooded with concerns of Steam users who complained that they could see the payment information of other users, but their attempts to log in to secure their accounts failed. Some found out that the language on their homepage was changed to either Russian or other languages, the report details.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Users have been advised to take proactive measures to protect their account. Destructoid suggested removing Steam's access to their account if they are using PayPal as their payment method. They were also advised to contact their banks and make changes in their card information, the report relays.
To fix the issue, Valve temporarily shut down the Steam store. Then, the company had spoken up about the issue and explained what caused the problem through an official statement.
"Steam is back up and running without any known issues," Valve told GameSpot. "As a result of a configuration change earlier today, a caching issue allowed some users to randomly see pages generated for other users for a period of less than an hour."
Valve also added that there have been no unauthorized actions executed except for the viewing of the information from the cached page.
While there are rumors that the Steam issue may have been a hacking attempt, SteamDb said it was neither a hack nor a DDoS attack. Whatever the real cause of the problem, what is known is that Valve will have to make its security system stricter to prevent another similar issue from surfacing again.
