Schalke 04
Knappe
I didn't use my credit card on steam and made a direct bank transfer instead by online banking.
Am I at a lower or higher risk now?
Am I at a lower or higher risk now?
That's why I rarely by games. Railroads! Civ:Col, Civ V, the new Settlers games... All of them are crap in my opinion.
Instead I play the original Colonization from 1994, Settlers II from 1996, Railroad Tycoon Deluxe from 1993, Transport Tycoon from 1994 and Dune II from 1992. These games are ten times better than any new game I've played, don't require any expensive graphic cards and don't require any online activasion.
I didn't use my credit card on steam and made a direct bank transfer instead by online banking.
Am I at a lower or higher risk now?
Great postI'm fine with that as long it's about preventing piracy. However, Steam is not about preventing piracy. Steam is a marketplace/rental store.
- Steam keeps track of what games you're playing
- Steam shows ads of other games you might be willing to buy
- Steam forces you to run Steam for no apparent reason, other than to be able to collect data and show ads
- Steam prevents you from selling games you don't like
It's not designed to stop pirates, no matter what they claim. Steam is about getting more control the people who actually pay for the game, because they are the ones that are most likely to buy DLC's and other games. Very few people would visit the local game store every week to buy the latest DLC, however, when it's only a click a away and your credit card is already connected, it's much more tempting. So whether or not you "enjoy the benefits of Steam", make no mistake - You are NOT helping to prevent piracy. You are just helping the software companies to adapt a more lucrative way of doing business. Not by preventing piracy, but allowing them to make more money from the paying customers.
Great post
Too bad the Steam fanboys will try to rationalize everything about this away.
Expect to hear a lot about "it's normal, they are here to make money", because it seems that if your goal is to make money, you're ethically allowed everything.
Scan your systems! Stopzilla found a hijacker in my Steam folder which was causing my PC to freeze and crash. I love civ v but steam has been quite annoying...why can't civ just stand alone?
Its like the old days! So many familiar faces, many of whom broke their Civ5 boycott.
Yeah, over the time the turd in the box dries out so the stench is no longer overwhelming. I guess you can call it improvement.That's funny all right. I was one of the steadfast members of the boycott. Civ v is a good game and it will, in time, be a better one.
Not me, I haven't even been to these forums for a month or so. In the end heartbreaking disappointment wore off, the lesson was made and now I no longer feel being punished for my love for civ series. I feel indifferent.Its like the old days! So many familiar faces, many of whom broke their Civ5 boycott.
Okay, let's set some things straight for the ignorant (cough most) people here.
Moderator Action: As mentioned on the previous page of the thread, please do not call other members ignorant.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889
First off, the hack occurred on the Steam forums. Steam forums and Steam accounts are two separate entities. If you had two different passwords for the two accounts, there is an extremely (and I emphasize, extremely) low risk of your Steam account password being exposed. Modern encryption, especially with salting makes it damn near impossible to crack those passwords without the key. With that being said, it is always, always a good idea to change your password after something like this, irrelevant of whether or not it affected you (on the tiny off chance that it did)
Second: you should have had Steam Guard enabled. If you have that enabled, then you're pretty much home free. Unless you happen to use the same password for your email, in which case you're pretty screwed. Still, it's your own damned fault. Never use a weak and non-unique password for your email as you can recover access (and thus someone else can too) to most of your other accounts through your email. Anyways, Valve sent out plenty of emails, plenty of in-Steam notices about having Steam Guard enabled. If you didn't do it, well, your own damned fault.
Third: if by some stoke of unluckiness your account was breached and there are charges being made against your account -- dispute them! First of all, make sure you're checking your card statements for the next week -- if any erroneous or fraudulent charges pop up, make sure you report them. With this being said, they are fraud charges, you can dispute them and get your money back. You will likely have to close your card or even more so the bank will likely immediately issue you a new one (and invalidate the old). Sorry, I know it sucks, but thats how it is on the Internet.
Fourth: To all those of you who say you 'deleted' Steam -- you didn't. Their databases, just like every other internet-based company out there, still contains your info. So if you think you're safe because a month ago you stuck your head in the sand, you're quite wrong. Make sure you stay vigilant, and better yet, go log back in, change your passwords, etc. Before you go bashing Steam for keeping your data -- Google does it. Yahoo does it. Facebook does it. Hell I bet even CFC does it. From a technological standpoint, it is much more difficult to delete a database entry that is referenced in multiple places than to just invalidate it. That is how current database-driven sites work. I want to repeat, Steam is not alone in this, everybody does it. If you do not want to have your information stored and collected, go and unplug your modem, and go back under your rock.
Finally, I want to address the 'increasing amount of data breaches'. Yes, they have increased, but only because the number of people and services online have too. In fact, I would say that as a percentage of overall activity online, they have either stayed the same or decreased. In the past, companies would rarely if ever report major data breaches such as this. It was bad PR to announce them, so they kept them under the wraps. The data was still stolen though. These days, the PR hit from not taking action right after a data breach such as this is much greater with the proliferation of internet-based media. Thus, you are in fact much more likely to hear about a major data breach, and more likely to hear about it in time to prevent your personal data being used in nefarious ways. It has gotten a lot better in the last decade. In addition, the recognition of data breaches as a major issue means there are many more ways to address them after the fact, and it is a lot easier to get some sort of compensation if for instance your bank accounts are flushed.
So please, those of you getting your panties in a twist. You have every right to be pissed off, but little right to be pissed off at just Steam. This kind of stuff happens a lot more often than you think. You should most of all be pissed at the people who perpetrated this.
Suit yourself. Despite this breach, Ill continue to enjoy the games Steam brings me. 80+ games and under 300$ spent on all of them. Booyah. Not to mention the myriad of other things Valve as a company does.
Popped up on Update News for me immediately when I started Steam.
Nobody shoved it down your throat but you. You didn't have to buy the game, but you did. Quit whining, nobody forced you.
Right on. This man has the right idea.
The likelihood of that is very very tiny. It is also a risk you take every time you use the internet. Not a Steam exclusive (heh-heh)
Doesn't matter, your info is still in their database. Deleting your account merely marks it as inactive in their database.
Im more paranoid than most about this (ask anyone on IRC, I've been called a foil-hat-nut about privacy) but even I realize that this is not an exclusively Steam issue. So yes, all you paranoid folks were..I would not say you were wrong, but just a wee bit off on your aim. You should have been paranoid about..oh the whole Internet.
It's a multiplayer game. Anyone that says otherwise is an eejit. Before you say otherwise, tell me, is that a Multiplayer button in the in-game menu?
For the love of god don't use any other digital distribution platforms. The only one on the same level as Steam I would say is GOG. Everyone else is even worse about your data.
As for the email, thats your own damned fault. It's your email, you should know how to access it.
You more than likely wont. Now PayPal on the other hand, give them any leeway and they'll suck you dry.
as said above, your data is still in their databases. God forbid you used the same password as for your email, because then they could get at your email, and from there, anything linked to your email is their apple.
Nope, just being reported more often, which is a good thing. Because at least you know and can take steps to mitigate the damage versus not knowing until you've been bled dry.
That's not a credit card, that is a debit card. If you used an actual credit card, you would be fairly bulletproof. The two are not the same. With a credit card, you have a lot more recourse as the money has not been drawn from your bank accounts, but is rather still just a debt (that you can dispute)
Because we all know how well yelling 'Fire!' in a theatre works. They made a statement, sending out a blast email is likely to cause more PR damage. This would cause a mild panic amongst the less informed, leading to Valve's support resources being much more saturated, leaving those who are actually affected waiting longer. It's not perfect, but the pros of not sending out that blast email outweigh the cons for everyone.
Moderator Action: As mentioned on the previous page of the thread, please do not call other members ignorant, and don't imply that they're idiots either.
Please read the forum rules: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=422889
I came to check out whats going on in Civ4 end of the forums, and saw this on the front page. I'm glad i stuck to my steam boycotte. Thanks for this information though, i will share it with clans from other games i play, they use this 'software'.
This is why automatic updates, for software, operating systems, and games, is bad. You dont know when that update stream gets hijacked, usually you find out after an 'automatic update' occurs.
As much as i hate steam, and want to say I told you so, i will instead say this:
I hope everyone here on civfanatics isnt seriously affected by this (in terms of credit card fraud etc), but i do hope this will make people stop and rethink this 'all eggs in one basket' approach to gaming in future purchaces.
Is there a steamless C5 for sale yet?
The chances that they will get access to the information they needed is smaller then getting hit on the streets.
And even if they do, I just go to the bank, get a new card and I lose nothing. The only thing I have to do is inform my bank and wait a few days for a new card. That will sure stop me from having fun