34 replies to this topic

[axe360]

Yeah, it will stop for a few times/day's but then it comes back. Just give it a bit.... I found a way to email the Privacy Team, so we will see if they answer..

[✠ davef ✠]

it must have been in the steam update from yesterday. i have it on both computers 

[IanD]

Okay, I now have had this issue several times and yes, it has become annoying and distracting when launching Steam.

 

So, I tried entering my code and various numbers that were not my own telephone number and it wanted to send me a code to verify this. Naturally I did not continue. So, result, I turned Steam Guard off. Not perhaps something I should be posting here... and I'm likely to turn it back on in a few minutes. What did happen, was, and this isn't often enough I ttry.... it will not allow you to post replies on the Steam Forums without Steam Guard.

 

Amusing to say the least.... Steam has a strange view on what it feels security should be, vs encouraging a gaming platform community. If I had to review Steam, it would be in the lower 25% of what I'd term a useful program. Wordpad and Audacity would sit higher than a download program basically.

[Mulligan]

It's simply a poor man's 2-factor authentication. What better way to have them verify that's it's really you trying to login to your account than send an SMS with a verification code? Email is not secure, anyone can hijack your email from anywhere in the world. With SMS on a phone, the attacker would actually need to have your physical phone to get real SMS* messages.

 

 

 

* real SMS as opposed to various apps out there that simulate SMS and therefore can be sent over wifi to your phone. Real SMS must be sent over your carrier signal. In other words, Google Voice, Whatsapp, etc text messages will not work if they have their security setup properly at Steam. Also, when I say "poor man's 2-factor authentication", I really mean you don't have to bother with the PITA authentication app on your phone hardware.

[IanD]

Security is often best i know... however, I do feel they have no grasp on what exactly it is the user wants and can benefit from. Since they have no payment details on file for myself, nor locally (ie in my machine), the only thing they may get - is my identity through Steam. Since almost none of the details I have entered are 100% accurate, I'm not sure anyone could properly correct the details without hacking somewhere else. Therefore, to be that specific in gaining what is needed for myself to be a identically cloned identity, it would need them to know what they're looking for. If they knew that, I seriously doubt they'd use Steam. However, this isn't about me... the guy in the park, was simply a guy in the park and those noises I hear behind me, are just tired walls...

[Mulligan]

IanD, the compromised Steam account gives all your games to the intruder. That's alot of money over 10 years for me. Also, stolen Steam accounts are quite common, that's why Steam is stiffening it's security setup. They aren't forcing Steam Guard, but if you have hundreds of dollars worth of games on that account it would certainly suck to lose it to some crook in Russia or China. There's also a healthy black market selling stolen Steam accounts.

[IanD]

Not that I'm ever seeking things like this to happen, it would be an annoyance than a complete loss of account. The data available and kept by Steam could easily unravel the claimed account if actually stolen. the hard part is actually getting to the people that control the data and make the decisions. Most things with online details, are now kept on such tight control, speaking to someone who can help is almost as hard as hacking them would be...

 

So, the real reason something like this is introduced, is more likely to avoid the need for us to speak Mr Invisible, and thus, keep him hidden and inaccessible.

 

This isn't the pessimist in me... it's just my imagination wired to the ether... with so many streaming airwaves out there, I'm becoming a polluted signal that no longer operates under a certain frequency and can't recall the last time a dot and a dash were anything but an endless stream of spectrum loading mono noises, rather than a telegram informing me to stop.

[Brucey Mc]

I'm meeting steam for drinks on Tuesday night, don't tell the wife

[axe360]

Here's the thing. I don't mind Steam asking but I should have the right to decline...I buy many things online and give my phone number to those "Secure" sites but I guarantee I have their phone number too, for Customer Service.

The big difference and the reason I won't give steam my phone number, is because it makes me very very uncomfortable that I cannot easily get a hold of "customer Service" for steam.. Look around, you will see that it is virtually impossible to get a hold of steam and then, it's only by email...

 

Steam wants my phone number, well, I say "steam, give me your phone number and I'll give you mine".

[Mulligan]

You don't have the right to decline? I had no trouble ignoring it.

[axe360]

You don't have the right to decline? I had no trouble ignoring it.

 

That's no help...

[axe360]

Happy to report, I haven't had this pop up in quite some time. I guess they got my message..

[Richard]

Happy to report, I haven't had this pop up in quite some time. I guess they got my message..

 

[Crusher]

It's all rubbish with Steam's already infamous security vulnerabilities.

 

Roughly 77,000 accounts are hijacked every month on Steam

[axe360]

 

Can't be jinx, since I made them fix it... lol I don't like steam and big reason is,  No customer support number made readily available and that always makes me leery....