Valve upgrades Steam's security after several games are hacked and filled with malware

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Valve upgrades Steam’s security after several games are hacked and filled with malwarePlatform owner reports “an uptick in sophisticated attacks” on Steam devs

Platform owner reports “an uptick in sophisticated attacks” on Steam devs

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Valve’s Steam logo

Wondering why Steam devs will have to confirm via SMS before publishing new game versions or adding users? (https://t.co/EIyLHyA02N….) Looks like it’s related to hackers taking over Steam dev accounts & adding malware to game builds. (Screenshot via@SteamDBfrom Sept. 2023.)pic.twitter.com/WfjGiHdhxm— Simon Carless (@simoncarless)October 10, 2023

Valve are purging the builds affected, and are beefing up Steam’s security mechanisms. A company representative has toldPCGamerthat there has been “an uptick in sophisticated attacks” against Steam devs, and that “extra friction” for partners is a “necessary tradeoff for keeping Steam users safe and developers aware of any potential compromise to their account.”

Valve have outlined their security changes ina post on Steam. “As part of a security update, any Steamworks account setting builds live on the default/public branch of a released app will need to have a phone number associated with their account, so that Steam can text you a confirmation code before continuing,” it reads.

“The same will be true for any Steamworks account that needs to add new users,” it continues. “This change will go live on October 24, 2023, so be sure to add a phone number to your account now. We also plan on adding this requirement for other Steamworks actions in the future.”

Developers will need a text message confirmation code whenever they update a build in the default branch of a Steam app, but they won’t need a code to update a beta branch or an app that hasn’t been released. Steamworks partner group admins will also need a text message code in order to invite a new user to the group.