Steam Is Randomly Logging Users Into Other People's Accounts And Exposing Their Information [Update]
Source: Forbes
Some sort of breach or malfunction has hit Steam, the worlds largest PC gaming platform, that is allowing people access to other peoples user accounts. Not just allowing, rather, but forcing users into accounts that arent theirs.
That means not only access to other peoples game libraries, but more seriously, potentially harmful information like home addresses, purchase history and even credit card information.
Twitter is exploding with reports of this glitch, and the exact details are still being sorted out. Some users are getting a Russian or French or Spanish landing page instead of English. Some are reporting that theyre being logged into only one of a few different accounts whenever they try to sign in, or even simply refreshing the account page or going to a different section of the client.
Its tough to know what to do in a situation like this, but the safest thing may be not to do anything at all. Its unclear what exactly is going on, so staying logged out entirely is probably a good idea. With that said, others are trying to reach their own account in order to delete their payment information from Steam so in case their account is exposed, theyre safe from potential thievery. The prevailing advice at this point, however, is simply avoid trying to log in or change anything at all until we know more.
Read more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2015/12/25/steam-is-randomly-logging-users-into-other-peoples-accounts-and-exposing-their-information/
Ellen Forradalom
(16,160 posts)My son had some large unauthorized charges and now I see why.
DeadLetterOffice
(1,352 posts)Oneironaut
(5,504 posts)The glitch caused users to be logged in as random users. For this to be the cause, your son would have to have been extremely unlucky. There are millions of Steam users.
TekGryphon
(430 posts)LiberalArkie
(15,719 posts)DeadLetterOffice
(1,352 posts)What does a Steam breach have to do with the primaries (asks an ardent Bernie supporter)?
LiberalArkie
(15,719 posts)One user on a system accidentally getting another users data.
reACTIONary
(5,770 posts)joshcryer
(62,276 posts)People getting info on other customers and potentially even making charges in their accounts? Is that OK?
marble falls
(57,106 posts)NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)The NGP-VAN incident was a permissions issue, and this thing with Steam looks like a caching issue.
Chan790
(20,176 posts)I think that's not a distinction that most DUers will understand. You might as well have ascribed one or the other to fairy-magic for how much the less-technical members of DU will understand what either a permissions or caching issue is. To them, they're both computer issues that provide an end-user with information that isn't supposed to be theirs to look at where the fault lies with the software company in the middle.
NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)I just made a couple of purchases there today--hooray, Steam winter sale--and I haven't had any problems.
Best advice is to just not do anything. Valve will work it out.
ETA - If anyone's interested, TotalBiscuit has a video going into a little bit more detail about what's going on.
bananas
(27,509 posts)Chan790
(20,176 posts)(I'm explaining all of my non-common terms in this post for the less computer savvy or people that don't play video games. I didn't want you to think I think you're an idiot or I'm patronizing you.)
A couple of years ago, Steam was push-downloading (when the server initiates the download without user permissions) patches (code-fixes) for Skyrim to everybody that had purchased Skyrim (a video game) through Steam and accidentally gave everybody a free copy of the Dawnguard DLC (additional content that adds another additional storyline as well as non-player characters, weapons, and quests to the game. Usually not free.) It doesn't double the length of the game or anything but the Dawnguard storyline is actually slightly-longer than the main storyline of the game. Dawnguard retailed at that time for around $20.
Because they were the ones initiating the downloads, Steam couldn't charge anybody for the content they didn't ask for or buy. They couldn't go back in and force-delete (server initiated file-deletion) and ended up having to pay Zenimax (the publisher of Skyrim and Dawnguard) and Bethesda Softworks (the author of Skyrim and Dawnguard) for every copy they accidentally gave away.
Eventually, because I had the extra money and because I don't want to rob content creators or see Steam bankrupted by their ineptitude...I like being able to buy and download new games in an easy way through a system that manages installation and patching...I ended up buying the content I'd received free...but most people didn't.
bananas
(27,509 posts)On second thought, no, there are lots of incompetent webmonkeys like the idiots Debbie Whatsername hired.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Soon as they knew it was an issue they shutdown any stores and fixed the problem in less than an hour.
That's the positive of twitter for game companies, any bugs/glitches make twitter explode instantly.