You’re playing your favourite Steam game when, out of nowhere, you’re kicked out of the game.
You try to log back into Steam out of confusion, only to find out that your login details are invalid.
You then check your public Steam profile, only to discover that things look very different and there are plenty of unfamiliar faces you never accepted onto your friends list.
Your account has been hijacked.
Unfortunately, many gamers are all too familiar with Steam account hijackings.
According to Valve’s calculations, 77,000 Steam accounts are hijacked and pillaged every month.
While this is a threat that plagues Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts, some would argue that losing your Steam account is the most disastrous of all — given the amount of time and hundreds (if not thousands) of Rands you have put into it.
How to defend your Steam account against hackers
It’s impossible to completely protect your Steam account from malicious activity that puts your account at risk — this is simply how cybersecurity works.
However, there are several steps you can take to prevent a hacker from gaining unauthorised access to your account.
The most important thing you can do to protect your account is to toggle on Steam Guard in your Steam account settings.
Once enabled, users that try to gain access to your account from an unrecognised device will need a special code that is generated via the Steam Mobile app. This code resets every 30 seconds.
Once you have activated Steam Guard, you will want to enable as many of the following backup options as possible:
- Email Two-Factor Authentication
- Phone Number
- Family Mode
Be vigilant and proactive — look out for suspicious emails such as ones that inform you that you’ve requested a password or username change when you haven’t requested any such thing.
Additionally, no Steam administrator will ever ask for your login details, and if there is a link attached to a mail that is allegedly from Steam, don’t click on it.
If you find yourself having navigated to an unfamiliar webpage, you can easily identify whether a website is legitimate by looking at the URL bar.
If the URL bar shows a locked lock pad and/or “https://” in front of the URL address, you’re looking at a secure website. If not, close your browser immediately and scan your system for malware before going back to the email and flagging it as a phishing scam.
How to recover a hijacked Steam account
Having your account stolen can be a stressful experience, but getting it back can actually be quite simple if you’re quick and pay attention to all steps.
The steps Valve suggests you should take if your Steam account has been hacked or hijacked are listed below.
Scan your device for malware
Viruses, key loggers, spyware and other malicious code can steal your Steam account name and password.
Before resetting your Steam account’s password, you should run virus and spyware scanners to ensure such programs are not on your computer.
Reset your email and email-associated passwords
Make sure both your email and other accounts are safe and secure by generating a new password that you haven’t used before — include several letters and at least one special character.
Lock your Steam account remotely
This will prevent the hijacker from making any changes to the account, purchasing games, playing on VAC-enabled game servers, and gifting or selling your inventory to others.
You can lock the account from any email address associated with your Steam account. More instructions can be found on the official support page.
Begin the official account recovery process
Follow the necessary steps with the help of Steam Support to get your account back. When contacting Steam, try to provide as much of the following as possible:
- Providing proof of account ownership
- Any possible Steam account login names
- Any possible email addresses used on the account
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