Key Takeaways
- Steam doesn’t hassle you to change your password, but don’t forget to update it to keep your account secure.
- Steam uses 2FA and Steam Guard to keep your account secure, but it isn’t enough.
- Treat your gaming accounts like your bank accounts—use unique passwords, enable Steam Guard, and be aware of phishing attempts.
Steam doesn’t bother you to update your passwords—which makes it that much easier to forget to change it before it’s too late. Don’t make the mistake I made; change your password now before it gets exposed.
My Old Steam Password Was Exposed Over 100,000 Times
A bit back, I started moving my passwords to a password manager and organizing my old logins. It’s a long process, but it’s made easier by Bitwarden’s reports on exposed passwords. As I was looking through the list one day, I noticed that there was one password that was exposed 109,386 times.
It happened to be my Steam account! Apparently, I hadn’t changed the password in years—it might have been more than a decade. I couldn’t understand how I hadn’t changed it in so long, but it turns out that Steam works differently than many other sites and services.
Steam Won’t Remind You to Change Your Password
Most places ask you to update your password semi-regularly, and the requirements for new passwords are becoming increasingly stringent. Steam doesn’t do that—instead, the company relies on two-factor authentication (2FA) and QR codes from Steam Guard via the Steam app to keep your account safe.
The platform won’t force you to change your password, nor will you get any email reminders. Compared to how often you have to change your password at other places, it can feel like a breath of fresh air to not be harassed to update your password yet again.
Steam Guard isn’t a bad way to protect your account, as 2FA and QR codes make it harder to get into your account over just having the password. However, these methods are not enough to keep your account completely safe. And the last thing anyone wants is for their nearly two-decades-old Steam account to get hacked and lose access to all of those games.
Keep Your Steam Account Safe
In fact, we recommend you protect your gaming accounts just as you would your bank accounts. That means having a unique password and account username from other places, setting up Steam Guard (if you haven’t already), and keeping an eye out for phishing emails and messages.
So head over to your Steam account and get your password updated! We have a guide on a few ways to update your Steam password, but the easiest way is to go to Settings, then Account, and select Change Password.
