Valve has refuted recent claims suggesting a major data breach affected its Steam platform, asserting unequivocally that there was "NOT a breach" of Steam's systems. While concerns circulated regarding reports of over 89 million user records being compromised, Valve’s internal investigation found that the incident involved only a leak of "older text messages." These one-time code SMS messages, however, did not contain any personal data.
In an official statement published on Steam, Valve explained that after reviewing a sample of the leaked information, it concluded that customer data remained secure. The leak reportedly included older text messages containing one-time codes valid for 15-minute windows and the associated phone numbers. Crucially, this data did not connect the phone numbers to Steam accounts, passwords, payment details, or other sensitive personal information.
"The leaked data cannot be used to compromise the security of your Steam account," Valve clarified, adding that users receive confirmations via email or Steam secure messages whenever a code is utilized to modify account settings or passwords through SMS.
In light of the situation, Valve encouraged users to enable the Steam Mobile Authenticator, emphasizing it as the optimal method for enhancing account security through two-factor authentication.Given the growing prevalence of data breaches and the substantial number of Steam accounts globally, user anxiety was understandable. One of the most high-profile gaming-related breaches occurred in 2011 when PlayStation Network suffered a prolonged outage affecting approximately 77 million accounts.
Moreover, cybersecurity incidents extend beyond customer data. Last October, Pokémon developer Game Freak endured a significant cyberattack resulting in leaks involving staff information and development plans. Similarly, Sony disclosed in 2023 that data belonging to nearly 7,000 current and former employees had been exposed in separate breaches. In December 2023, hackers accessed confidential data from Insomniac Games, the developer behind Marvel's Spider-Man.
