Steam Hackers May Have Gotten a Backup Database With Encrypted Information

Valve boss Gabe Newell has made a new announcement for users of its Steam digital distribution service and Steam forums, sharing some more information about the hacker attack suffered by the company late last year.

Hackers dominated the spotlight in 2011, as after forcing Sony to take down its PlayStation Network, some of them started attacking other video game companies. Valve was among the last to be targeted, and it seemed that even with security measures, some nefarious individuals managed to get their hands on a database from the Steam forums.

Since then, Valve pledged to further investigate the attack so that its customers and users can know just what happened.

Now, company boss Gabe Newell has made a new statement, saying that recent data shows that hackers may have gotten away with a copy of a backup file that included Steam transactions between 2004 and 2008.

"We continue our investigation of last year's intrusion with the help of outside security experts. In my last note about this, I described how intruders had accessed our Steam database but we found no evidence that the intruders took information from that database. That is still the case," Newell said in a public announcement on Steam.

"Recently we learned that it is probable that the intruders obtained a copy of a backup file with information about Steam transactions between 2004 and 2008. This backup file contained user names, email addresses, encrypted billing addresses and encrypted credit card information. It did not include Steam passwords," he added.

Valve still can't say for sure if the encrypted credit card information or billing addresses were compromised, but it still advises Steam users to carefully watch their credit card activity.

While it's still unfortunate that Valve fell prey to such an attack, it's good to hear that the data was encrypted and users are still relatively safe.

Hopefully, we'll learn more about the situation in the near future.