Much like any kid on Christmas Day, I was eager to use my brand new toys. Where’s the first place I went? Well, to get those games on Steam that I had been eye-balling for the Winter Steam Sale. I also needed to update some of my account info, so knew that came as part of the task. I wasn’t surprised to see that Steam was down. I couldn’t access the store where I wanted to browse for a few more games other than the ones already added in my cart.
I figured, “Man, there must be a ton of people online right now trying to access the store. There must be a lot of new gaming toys under all those trees.” But, to my surprise, it wasn’t because of traffic but rather a security issue that caused the temporary shutdown.The temporary security issue was moreso that users were reportedly able to access other user’s information. The information included PayPal and account content. So, doesn’t necessarily seem as though an attack was the cause. There are some sources theorizing that it is nothing more than a caching issue, a common issue for many websites themselves.
At this point, the site is up and running. If you plan on updating your account information, myself included, I would be wary about doing so just yet. Make sure to follow the Steam official Twitter page for any possible updates, and of course, make sure your account is secure by monitoring any changes you notice.
Source: Polygon
