In response to a recent wave of cyberattacks targeting game developers, Valve is introducing new security measures requiring developers on its digital distribution platform to confirm their identity via SMS.
The news first broke on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) by GameDiscoverCo newsletter founder Simon Carless (via PCGamer), who posted a screenshot of a message from Valve. The image discloses that it notified affected developers whose accounts were hacked and used to add malware into game builds.
Wondering why Steam devs will have to confirm via SMS before publishing new game versions or adding users? (https://t.co/EIyLHyA02N….) Looks like it's related to hackers taking over Steam dev accounts & adding malware to game builds. (Screenshot via @SteamDB from Sept. 2023.) pic.twitter.com/WfjGiHdhxm
— Simon Carless (@simoncarless) October 10, 2023
PCGamer reports that the cyberattack resulted in fewer than 100 Steam users being impacted, as these users had installed games that had malware added to them. The outlet confirmed that the company contacted those victims to disclose the malware attack.
One of the developers impacted was Benoît Freslon, an indie game maker who developed the RTS game NanoWar: Cells VS Virus. Freslon replied to Carless' post, noting that he was a victim of the recent malware attacks, with the hackers stealing his browser access tokens and explaining how 2FA is useless since the tokens are still active on the web browser.
Valve notes in a recent blog post that it is rolling out new changes to how developers manage new builds of games in its API Steamworks. These new security measures will also go into effect whenever a developer adds a new user(s) to their Steamworks group. But this will not impact games that have not been released or if they are "updating a beta branch", according to Valve.
The new security changes will require a phone number to be associated with the Steamworks account, allowing the company to send a text message containing a confirmation code with the changes rolling out on October 24.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
