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Now's a good time to check in on your Steam account security

Steam has allegedly suffered a data breach in the past week. Details are scant and difficult to confirm, but a known hacker has claimed to be selling a database of more than 89 million user records for the gaming platform with one-time access codes obtained from a third-party vendor used by Steam. If accurate, that would include information about more than two-thirds of Steam's audience. 

The original LinkedIn post identifying a breach suggested that the leaked information came from cloud communication company Twilio. However, a Steam rep said the platform doesn't use Twilio, so if there has been a breach, it may be through a different vendor providing SMS codes for access.

While we're genuinely not sure what's happening at this stage, the whole kerfuffle is a timely reminder to check in on your online security practices. In the case of Steam, Valve has a mobile authentication program called Steam Guard that can help keep your account secure. It's also a good practice to make sure you're regularly changing your pass codes, especially when it's possible that some component of Steam Guard was at the root of this week's security drama. A password manager can streamline that process. Since phone numbers appear to have been compromised, be extra alert to possible phishing attempts via text. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://ift.tt/vFAisSb

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