HOW TO PROTECT YOUR STEAM ACCOUNT

After the attempted hi-jack of my Steam account last week, which cause Valve to disable my account for a couple of days and the hi-jack of one of our admin's account last year. I’ve felt that I needed to post this info on the forum, so that you can protect your Steam account the best you can and to avoid the traps and tricks hackers will used to gain control to your account. This info will put onto our website, when we build it.

THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR
Account hijackers have several common methods of attack, most of which rely upon misinformation or deception. Your account cannot be stolen if you follow these recommendations and refrain from sharing your account.

Watch out for these activities
1) Requests for login and password information
2) Unsolicited messages from Steam Support - phishing scams
3) Malicious programs in downloads
4) Fake Steam E-mail Verify, Steam never give you any verify log in web side

If someone called ‘Admin’ claim to be from Steam support, (similar to the screenshot below, sent to Jamie, who is one of our senior admin), contact you through Steam chat, asking for your login details to update your account or to verify the account, then this should be ringing alarm bells with you. Steam will never do this.



STEAM FRIENDS
Anyone can attempt to add you to their friends list. Users can add you to their Friends list by observing your in-game nickname, or if they know your account's contact e-mail address - for this reason we recommend that you keep in mind that the users who have added you may not be people you have spoken with before.
Be aware that users can change their nickname displayed in Friends at any time.

ACCOUNT SECURITY RECOMMENDATIONS
Protect your Steam Account and password by verifying your contact email address with Steam. Once you've verified your email address with Steam, both your Steam Account password and access to your email account are required in order to make any changes to your Steam Account credentials, such as your password, secret question and answer, and contact email address. This helps further protect your Steam Account from being stolen by a potential phisher

GENERAL SECURITY RECOMMENDATIONS
A strong password is a necessary first step toward ensuring the security of your account. Your password should meet all of the minimum requirements listed below:
Use at least 6 characters
Use a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters.
• Include at least one number within the password
• Do not use a name, a word that could be found in the dictionary, or a series of letters as it appears on the keyboard (qwerty and 12345 are not secure passwords)
• Use unique passwords
• Make sure you are using a different password for your Steam account, your Steam Support account, and your contact e-mail address.
• If your account is Hacked or Stolen go to www.steampowered.com so you can get your Account back!

RECLAIMING A HIJACKED STEAM ACCOUNT

HOW DO I VERIFY MY E-MAIL ADDRESS? video

HOW DO I CONTACT STEAM BILLING AND SUPPORT? video

F#CK-THE-HACKERS STEAM GROUP
I was kindly given an invite to this Steam group, who expose hackers of Steam accounts and help people to protect their Steam account from hackers or been attempted to be hacked.

I advise all admin and members of 8U to join the group and to read the content on there Steam page. If you believe someone is trying to get control of your account through Steam chat, then take the following steps to get these people banned from Steam, they need this information from you.

1. Profile URL
2. Hacking URL or Chat.
3. Take a screenshot showing the profile URL, the chat message with the person also showing the URL, which you believe may be trying to access your login details. Similar to the first image in this thread.

If you Find or meet a hacker then please contact the group or E-mail then at: HACKER_REPORTER@live.no
It can take some time before they respond to you, but if it’s a genuine claim they will contact Steam for you and get the person banned. They can not actually get your steam back for you, only you can do that through steam support, but these people will assist you.

NEW HACKING STUFF!!! READ THIS FOR YOUR SECURITY!!!