Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator sucks. This is why and what I recommend.

[Stan Darsh]

Don't think this is just another suggestion to remove the trade/sell hold, because it isn't.

If you are someone like me and can't get a smartphone and rather prefers a PC, then we can agree having our inventory locked with us is very (very) annoying. I own a VOIP phone, but is useless when it comes to bypassing the Steam Guard.

Steam Guard only harms people without smart-phones because: 1) We need to spend a few hundred $ to trade/sell our inventory and further secure it. 2) It makes it easier to steal accounts; Someone hacks a Steam Account that can't protect itself and the hacker uses his or her phone to lock the owner out of his or her account. 3) It puts restrictions on games (like TF2) that require a phone number for certain features.

What I recommend is to allow us to use our email to secure our accounts and remove the damned inventory restriction (Of course allowing us to stack the Mobile Authenticator on top of that).
Another thing I recommend is to allow us to use VOIP phones for the occasional two-step login and send notifications to our provided email.

I hope the community considers this idea.

Leave any ideas or solutions for me to consider!

[Winged One]

they tried using E-Mails, it didn't work

[Stan Darsh]

Originally posted by theseraph1:

they tried using E-Mails, it didn't work

What happened?

[Winged One]

Originally posted by Dgrif12:

Originally posted by theseraph1:

they tried using E-Mails, it didn't work

What happened?

it wasn't effective, it wasn't making it any harder for people to gain access to the accout and peoples inventories were being stolen..


thats why they switched it to the current system.. you either have the app and the fact two seperate devices would have to be compromised (unlikely), or you don't have the app and the 15 day hold gives you time to notice..

fyi, you could grab a $20 prepaid smartphone for the authorization text, but install the app to handle it to either a tablet you may have or and android emulator if you really wanna bypass it

[Faedrill]

Originally posted by el negro magnifico:

it only bothers me that they force it on EVERYONE just because some ugly dumb little autists got hacked, like im some 13 year old failure that cant take responsibility for his own security.

Do you complain to your goverment to?
Every Law is made cause a few had to do something stupid

[Satoru]

Originally posted by Dgrif12:

Don't think this is just another suggestion to remove the trade/sell hold, because it isn't.

Then proceeds to make the exact suggestion the post is supposedly 'not about'

[Stan Darsh]

Originally posted by theseraph1:

Originally posted by Dgrif12:

What happened?

it wasn't effective, it wasn't making it any harder for people to gain access to the accout and peoples inventories were being stolen..


thats why they switched it to the current system.. you either have the app and the fact two seperate devices would have to be compromised (unlikely), or you don't have the app and the 15 day hold gives you time to notice..

fyi, you could grab a $20 prepaid smartphone for the authorization text, but install the app to handle it to either a tablet you may have or and android emulator if you really wanna bypass it

Its not that great either, because it only makes it so people can get locked out permanently because if the hacker has a cellphone he or she can use that to claim the account.

[Stan Darsh]

Originally posted by Satoru:

Originally posted by Dgrif12:

Don't think this is just another suggestion to remove the trade/sell hold, because it isn't.

Then proceeds to make the exact suggestion the post is supposedly 'not about'

This suggestion was not asking to remove the hold, I was suggesting different ways of securing the account.

[Winged One]

Originally posted by Dgrif12:

Originally posted by theseraph1:

it wasn't effective, it wasn't making it any harder for people to gain access to the accout and peoples inventories were being stolen..


thats why they switched it to the current system.. you either have the app and the fact two seperate devices would have to be compromised (unlikely), or you don't have the app and the 15 day hold gives you time to notice..

fyi, you could grab a $20 prepaid smartphone for the authorization text, but install the app to handle it to either a tablet you may have or and android emulator if you really wanna bypass it

Its not that great either, because it only makes it so people can get locked out permanently because if the hacker has a cellphone he or she can use that to claim the account.

and the same thing could be done with e-mail verification, only far easier


Valve has ways to reobtain lost Steam accounts.. ususally some form of proof of ownership, such as linked credit card credentials or a handful activated Product Keys

[Stan Darsh]

@theseraph1 and why can't we use VOIP phones?

[Winged One]

Originally posted by Dgrif12:

@theseraph1 and why can't we use VOIP phones?

is the Steam app avaliable on the phones app store?

[Stan Darsh]

Originally posted by theseraph1:

Originally posted by Dgrif12:

@theseraph1 and why can't we use VOIP phones?

is the Steam app avaliable on the phones app store?

VOIP phones are home phones, but steam apparently can't send voice messages to those.

[Winged One]

Originally posted by Dgrif12:

Originally posted by theseraph1:

is the Steam app avaliable on the phones app store?

VOIP phones are home phones, but steam apparently can't send voice messages to those.

and there is your answer, the verification process of the mobile authenticator isn't done by call, text, or mail.. its done by the Steam mobile app, as having two seperate devices required makes it more difficult to compromise it

[Stan Darsh]

I can download the app with bluestacks, but it requires a phone number.

[ecznos]

Originally posted by Dgrif12:

Steam Guard only harms people without smart-phones because: 1) We need to spend a few hundred $ to trade/sell our inventory and further secure it.

Few hundred?

http://www.1mtb.com/top-5-best-unlocked-android-smartphone-mobile-under-50-dollar-usd/

If you can't afford a smart phone for 50 dollar then i don't know what to say.

Originally posted by Dgrif12:

It makes it easier to steal accounts; Someone hacks a Steam Account that can't protect itself and the hacker uses his or her phone to lock the owner out of his or her account.

Your accusation makes no sense. How does it makes easier to steal accounts? An account doesn't protect itself. You are responsible for the security of your account.

[JPMcMillen]

The main problem with your arguement is the idea that hacker are actually bothering to try and takeover accounts. Given that you need the authenticator or suffer a 15 day hold, the odds of being able to clean out someones inventory is practically zero. A hacker would spend enormous amounts of time attempting to find accounts not using the authenticator, then getting a 15 day trade hold or having to wait out the 7 day authenticator hold, and hoping the user doesn't attempt to accss their account during this time and undo everything.

And the easiest (and smartest) way to complicate this further, is make sure your email account uses a different password than your Steam account. Then a potential hacker has to break into two completely different accounts.