Valve Says Hacker Mostly Blowing Steam

Last week a harsh critic of Steam, Valve's online content delivery system, boasted of a supposed security infilitration against the "Valve Cafe" network, but a Valve official downplayed the event.

The hacker, going by the online monicker "MaddoxX," claimed to have accessed error logs, credit card information, financial data and internal company pages of the network, used by cyber cafes to host Steam-based games on their computers.

He also posted an anti-Steam manifesto and a list of angry demands at his website, but the address no long appears to work.

DailyTech.com reported that Valve Marketing Director Doug Lombardi issued the following response:

There has been no security breach of Steam. The alleged hacker gained access to a third-party site that Valve uses to manage the commercial partners in its Cyber Café program. This Cyber Café billing system is not connected to Steam. We are working with law enforcement agencies on this matter, and encourage anyone with more information to e-mail us at [email protected].

Steam has increasingly come to serve as an online alternative to brick and mortar PC game stores and carries the titles of several publishers. It first came under withering criticism, however, in late 2004, when software glitches and problems authenticating Half-Life 2 raised the ire of some gamers.

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