3 replies to this topic

[Lee]

Quote-

Steam 'truly sorry' as 35 million online game accounts exposed

Steam - one of the world's largest distribution networks for online video games - has been hacked, leaving the user accounts of 35 million vulnerable and potentially exposing their credit card details and billing address to hackers.

It follows the prominent hacking of Sony's PlayStation network in April, which affected 77 million accounts globally. More...

[Doug]

Sophos of Australia detected and investigated the breach. I wonder if Steam hired Sophos to create their security system, or simply to monitor what Steam's own IT department crafted? IT personnel have plenty to do in any company, especially a huge networking and service provider such as a gaming site. I would hope that the business arm of the company has not squelched IT efforts to elaborate needed protection schemes.

[Lee]

I have a very high regard for Sophos and I'm sure as the sun will rise tomorrow that they never created Steam's security system! What happened to steam and Sony could happen anywhere and is the reason I never use on-line banking or credit cards regardless of how "secure" online transaction re-directs are proported to be. Data bases get hacked and that's a fact of life. No hacker is ever going to gain access to my identity or money, ever There is actually "dark web" sites that trade in huge lists of credit card details and identity lists. The steam and Sony hackers probably on-sold the lists in neat 100,000 lots.

[Doug]

I also have high regard for Sophos. It is a curiosity that I express, having read a bit on exploits over the years. Some companies finance their IT sufficiently to construct good layered security plus hire outside consulting agencies to improve, monitor. and advise. Some companies unwisely focus their IT finances into the service providing only, seemingly believing that if they have an enterprise suite security system running that they are covered. I imagine this news will "have legs." Hope they post more about the nature of the breach.