Steam Support and Account Security

[nelohalo]

Hi, my name is James and I want to warn Steam users about the dangers of getting their accounts hijacked. Steam’s customer support is a fickle thing, and some anti-customer policies can seriously damage a user’s account if the user does not actively protect it. In the pastebin link below, I detail some ways to strongly safeguard against this occurrence, as well as tell my story about Steam Support and just how poorly they can handle a situation.

Here are the links to the text:
Link to article (plain text): http://pastebin.com/ciiyLJ1N
Link to text from Steam Support ticket: http://pastebin.com/vVESNMmH

I sent this story to every video games news site that I could find. None of them picked it up to educate users or bring Steam to task for their behavior. It is disappointing. I hope going to individual forums will help spread the word more effectively.

I am going to create an entry in Steam’s Wikipedia page about these types of occurrences as well. Feel free to add stories or comments that would be helpful to the topic of Steam criticisms.

Thanks,
James

[OmegaZero_Alpha]

I have a friend who never buys any games, he just hijacks an account through steam support every time he wants to play a multiplayer game.

Seems to work for him pretty well.

[nelohalo]

I can't tell if the /sarcasm is in your signature or part of the message.

I have heard that a prominent user named Mattie! (I think this was the persons name) had his account hijacked in a similar way to me. Backdoor access was gained to this persons e-mail verification address. This user has a strong background in network security, so they had all their ducks in a row in regards to password strength, Steam Guard, and so on.

[Stagi3rFall]

I can't tell if the /sarcasm is in your signature or part of the message.

I have heard that a prominent user named Mattie! (I think this was the persons name) had his account hijacked in a similar way to me. Backdoor access was gained to this persons e-mail verification address. This user has a strong background in network security, so they had all their ducks in a row in regards to password strength, Steam Guard, and so on.

It's Omega, it's sarcasm. xD

[OmegaZero_Alpha]

I was actually being serious, steam security is clueless.

[Snarf]

Hi, my name is James and I want to warn Steam users about the dangers of getting their accounts hijacked.

As opposed to the benefits...? What is this a PSA on proper condom usage?

[Sushimitzu]

Snarf you potatoe. This piece is well written.

[Stagi3rFall]

I was actually being serious, steam security is clueless.

Well of course they are! IT gives steam character ^.^

[Deagle13]

I was actually being serious, steam security is clueless.

yup. being hacked numerous times, and having steam support telling me its MY fault and then my account gets locked up. I agree with OP, steam support are not very reliable and do not do any background checking.

[MikeV]

I used to just....hope everything goes perfect and nothing happens to me.

Then I got hijacked (thankfully nothing was taken, Steam Support actually locked my account within 10 minutes of me sending the ticket, guess I got lucky).

Now I just....hope everything goes perfect and nothing happens to me.