{"id":84395,"date":"2015-12-10T16:30:06","date_gmt":"2015-12-10T14:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=84395"},"modified":"2015-12-10T16:43:45","modified_gmt":"2015-12-10T14:43:45","slug":"as-many-as-77-000-steam-accounts-are-hacked-every-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/pc\/84395-as-many-as-77-000-steam-accounts-are-hacked-every-month","title":{"rendered":"As many as 77, 000 Steam accounts are hacked every month"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe see around 77,000 accounts hijacked and pillaged each month,<\/em>\u201d said Valve<\/a> yesterday, when explaining the reason for the implementation of trade holds.<\/p>\n

Trade holds<\/a> are a period of time where Steam holds onto all items traded. After the period expires, the newly traded items are released to their respective owners.<\/p>\n

The reason for the hold is a simple one, security.<\/p>\n

While professional gamers, streamers and established item traders are the most likely targets, anyone can have their account hacked \u2013 you don\u2019t need to be na\u00efve or ignorant to be a victim.<\/p>\n

\u201cPractically every active Steam account is now involved in the economy, via items or trading cards, with enough value to be worth a hacker’s time. Essentially all Steam accounts are now targets,<\/em>\u201d said Valve.<\/p>\n

And they\u2019re right when you consider the library of games, collection of tradable items as well as private information gathered in one convenient account.<\/p>\n

We used to hold the opinion that if you were smart about account security, you’d be protected–it’s easy to assume that users whose accounts were stolen were new or technically na\u00efve users who must be sharing their passwords or clicking on suspicious links. That’s simply not the case.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That\u2019s why Steam holds onto your items, giving you time to rectify a security breach before you lose your hard-earned items.<\/p>\n

In cases where you were responsible and subject to a targeted attack, rather than just being careless, Valve will refund you, but that deflates the value of the market and the items traded through it.<\/p>\n

Trade holds are for those who believe they don\u2019t need the additional protection of things like two-factor authorisation or any other additional security. But given Steam\u2019s reported statistics and this lengthy, missive letter from Valve themselves, they\u2019re apparently very wrong. They most certainly do.<\/p>\n

Steam does understand, however, that there are many of you who are perfectly competent and take every precaution, and simply don\u2019t want to wait.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why there are ways to officially and securely circumnavigate the trade hold:<\/p>\n