Steam, easily one of the most popular online gaming platforms for computers, has a number of safeguards installed to help prevent players from accidentally visiting suspicious links and unrelated websites. But, as is the case with any kind of tech, exploits can arise at any time, and it seems that a very severe one that had been ignored for over two years has finally been addressed.
A white-hat hacker group reported that it had discovered a problem in Steam’s code over two years ago which had been ignored by Valve up until that point. The exploit apparently gave granted users control over a player’s computer, giving them access to sensitive information such as billing info and passwords.
The hacker group Secret Club publicly revealed this information last week, and stated that despite notifying Valve about the issue, no action had been taken. To make matters worse, Secret Club has claimed that Valve was purposefully hiding the issue, and wouldn’t allow them to publicly disclose the information either. And during this time, player’s accounts have been at risk as the exploit can be utilized via Steam player invites or even community servers, which is the main crux of games such as Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead 2.
Now it seems that public pressure and awareness of the exploit has forced Valve’s hand, as the developer has officially addressed and repaired the issue. Twitter user floesen and member of the group Secret Club who originally reported the issue has now stated that Valve has fixed the exploit and given him permission to detail what the exploit entailed in a future technical write-up.
While this is amazing news for Steam users, some issues still remain. The Secret Club has also previously reported on the exploits which could be used for harmful purposes specific to Team Fortress 2 and CS: GO which are yet to be addressed.
However, with the recent action from Valve, those issues too are likely to be resolved in the near future. Team Fortress 2 has been overrun by bots in recent times and has been largely overlooked by Valve in favor of continued support and release of some of its other game franchises. The large player-bases and revenue through micro-transactions made through these games will most likely see a big hit if the developer does not take actions to fix the issues.
Currently, Steam reigns supreme as the online gaming storefront. The Epic Games Store recently reported major losses over the last two years. So while Steam is lacking in competitions currently, if it does not address these exploits, it may give gamers a reason to reconsider which store they access. It’s in the player’s and Steam’s best interest to address these issues as soon as they’re brought to its attention in the future.
About Steam
Steam is a video game digital distribution service by Valve Softwares. It was launched as a standalone software client in September 2003 as a way for Valve to provide automatic updates for their games and was subsequently expanded to include games from third-party publishers. Steam also serves as an online web-based and mobile digital storefront.
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