Hackers Steam gamers' credit card info

Hackers broke into the Steam gaming network last weekend, even as administrators investigate the possible theft of members' credit card and other personal data. Gabe Newell, head of Valve Corp. which owns Steam, said the Steam forums were defaced Sunday evening (Monday in Manila), but they found the intrusion went deeper. "We learned that intruders obtained access to a Steam database in addition to the forums. This database contained information including user names, hashed and salted passwords, game purchases, email addresses, billing addresses and encrypted credit card information," Newell said in a message on the Steam forum. "We do not have evidence that encrypted credit card numbers or personally identifying information were taken by the intruders, or that the protection on credit card numbers or passwords was cracked. We are still investigating," he added. Newell said that while they do not have evidence of credit card misuse at this time, he advised users to "watch your credit card activity and statements closely." He also said "a few" forum accounts have been compromised, prompting administrators to require all forum users to change their passwords the next time they log in "If you have used your Steam forum password on other accounts you should change those passwords as well," he added. But Newell said they are not planning for now to force a change of Steam account passwords, even as he said there is no timetable as to when the forums will be reopened. "I am truly sorry this happened, and I apologize for the inconvenience," he said. — TJD, GMA News