332
Valve adds new security check after attackers compromise Steam accounts of multiple game devs and update their games with malware (www.pcgamer.com)
submitted 2 years ago by nanoUFO@sh.itjust.works to c/games@sh.itjust.works
14 comments fedilink hide all child comments
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world 69 points 2 years ago

I don't want to be too cynical, but I get the feeling this is working as intended on the parts of the "developers." If less than 100 people had the game installed, there is a good chance it was shovel-ware with a low or free upfront cost that was then sold to scammers. The scammers push the malware, get all the information they want from compromised machines, and then move on. The SMS will really only be a sort of "you gave the OK for this update to be pushed out, so you are responsible," type thing, which won't matter in the case of malicious shovel-ware and fly by night devs who only plan to sell out their install base, anyway.

[-] Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world 13 points 2 years ago

This totally makes sense. There's so much shovelware.

Every day, there's like 10 new hentai games. It makes it impossible to have the "adult" option turned on and look at new releases.

[-] JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee 13 points 2 years ago

It's not a confirmation via SMS, it's a verification via SMS, so the attacker has to have your phone number as well as your steam account to attack it, which makes it harder.

[-] chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world 15 points 2 years ago

That's why I was saying that this is "working as intended" and that more than likely this was perpetrated by less-than-savory devs who purposefully sold out the people who bought their games. There were no "hackers" only shitty devs that claimed they were hacked after they got caught distributing malware. Again, I may just be overly cynical.

[-] TWeaK@lemm.ee 10 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

They're saying the people who bought the game from the original devs may have been the ones to upload the malware. In that case, they could confirm the SMS very easily.

[-] ahriboy@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago

And SMS messages can be intercepted. Not a good option, use physical security keys instead!

[-] TWeaK@lemm.ee 7 points 2 years ago

Even authenticator apps are generally better than SMS.

One thing no one talks about with SMS verifications, though, is that it frequently confirms your phone number to the business you're giving it to. If they're in the habit of trading user data, this makes the data much more valuable. I think this is the real reason for many businesses that push for it, when normally they could hardly care less about user security.

[-] LoafyLemon@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago

Only if you have the access to the same mast, otherwise no. This vastly reduces the number of attack vectors.

this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2023
332 points (99.7% liked)

Games

24715 readers
36 users here now

Video game news oriented community. No NanoUFO is not a bot :)

Posts.

  1. News oriented content (general reviews, previews or retrospectives allowed).
  2. Broad discussion posts (preferably not only about a specific game).
  3. No humor/memes etc..
  4. No affiliate links
  5. No advertising.
  6. No clickbait, editorialized, sensational titles. State the game in question in the title. No all caps.
  7. No self promotion.
  8. No duplicate posts, newer post will be deleted unless there is more discussion in one of the posts.
  9. No politics.

Comments.

  1. No personal attacks.
  2. Obey instance rules.
  3. No low effort comments(one or two words, emoji etc..)
  4. Please use spoiler tags for spoilers.

My goal is just to have a community where people can go and see what new game news is out for the day and comment on it.

Other communities:

Beehaw.org gaming

Lemmy.ml gaming

lemmy.ca pcgaming

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
nanoUFO@sh.itjust.works