Yesterday, news broke that more than 89 million Steam accounts had been put up for sale on the dark web, prompting users to rush to change their passwords. Steam says that’s false and that you don’t need to worry about your account. Although there was a leak, it wasn’t one that would compromise the security of your PC game library.
Steam says that although a leak did take place, it was not a breach of the Steam systems. “We’re still digging into the source of the leak, which is compounded by the fact that any SMS messages are unencrypted in transit, and routed through multiple providers on the way to your phone,” the announcement reads.
“The leak consisted of older text messages that included one-time codes that were only valid for 15-minute time frames and the phone numbers they were sent to. The leaked data did not associate the phone numbers with a Steam account, password information, payment information or other personal data. Old text messages cannot be used to breach the security of your Steam account, and whenever a code is used to change your Steam email or password using SMS, you will receive a confirmation via email and/or Steam secure messages.”
This confirmation means that, at worst, you might get spam text messages from the leak of your phone number. Since the security codes only last for 15 minutes, they were outdated and useless almost immediately. Valve says there is no need to change your password at this time, but suggests users treat any uninvited account security messages as suspicious.
While this hack might have been a false alarm, it’s a reminder that cybersecurity is an ever-changing field. Always choose a strong, secure password or use a password manager. For many gamers, their Steam library represents hundreds or thousands of hours of playtime. That’s not something you want to put at risk.
Acer’s Predator Atlas 8 finally has a US release date and price, several months after the company first showed off the handheld in May. The highlight is the Intel Arc G3 Extreme chip inside, which has been adopted by only a couple of other consoles besides the Atlas 8. This version will go on sale exclusively at Best Buy on November 1 for $1,299.99.
Acer originally said the Atlas 8 would arrive in North America in October, but left pricing open at the time. The launch came amid the ongoing DRAM crunch, which has made memory more expensive across the PC industry and complicated pricing for hardware makers.
Gaming laptops and I have a complicated relationship. One of my first gaming rigs was an Acer Predator that was already outdated when I bought it. I was a broke college kid, and that was the best I could afford. So trying out high-end gaming laptops is always fun. But ASUS' ROG Zephyrus G14 is a lot more than a laptop that can run AAA games. It is portable, so you're not lugging around a 2.5kg machine everywhere you go. It is built well, none of that plastic chassis, and can even function as a normal laptop outside of just gaming.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.