Valve Confirms: No Steam User Data Breach

Valve has firmly refuted recent reports claiming its Steam platform experienced a "major" data hack, asserting that there was "NOT a breach" of Steam systems.

Although some users were alarmed by reports suggesting that over 89 million user records were compromised, Steam's investigation revealed that the leak involved only "older text messages." These messages contained one-time code SMSs but did not include any personal data.

In a statement posted on Steam, Valve clarified that after analyzing the leak sample, it concluded that customer data remained secure. The company stated, "The leak consisted of older text messages that included one-time codes that were only valid for 15-minute time frames and the phone numbers they were sent to. The leaked data did not associate the phone numbers with a Steam account, password information, payment information, or other personal data."

Valve further reassured users, saying, "Old text messages cannot be used to breach the security of your Steam account, and whenever a code is used to change your Steam email or password using SMS, you will receive a confirmation via email and/or Steam secure messages."

Given the increasing frequency of data breaches and the fact that over 89 million users have Steam accounts, concerns about a potential security compromise were understandable. One of the most notorious video game-related data breaches occurred in 2011, when the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable networks were severely disrupted for nearly a month, affecting 77 million accounts.

Moreover, it's not just customer data that's vulnerable. Just last October, Pokémon developer Game Freak experienced a significant hack, resulting in the leak of data about its past and present staff, as well as its development pipeline. A year earlier in 2023, Sony confirmed that data of nearly 7,000 of its current and former employees was compromised in two breaches that year. Additionally, in December 2023, hackers accessed confidential data at Marvel's Spider-Man developer, Insomniac.