Some people questioned the decision by Valve to introduce three day trade holds on accounts for people without two factor authentication, but there does appear to be a pretty good reason for it: more than 77,000 people are hacked every single month.
That's 77,000 accounts who lose all of their items and have their details compromised. While the items can be returned and the account details reset, it's a pain for everyone involved and for Valve, means devaluing the economy by creating duplicate items.
There's enough money in the marketplace these days that hackers can make a real living off of taking over accounts, trading items away and selling them on to unsuspecting individuals, which means that stopping them by being smart with your password or login details will only take you so far. If your account is targeted, if you're a well known gamer or item seller, there's a good chance someone will try and take your account on a regular basis.
So that's why Valve has pushed for the new two-factor authentication system on everyone, especially those that trade items. Now if you try and send items and you haven't logged in with the authenticator from that location or anywhere within a week, a three day hold on all trades where items are lost will be in place.
However if you and your friend have been on each others friends list for over a year and don't have the authenticator in place, the trade hold will only last a day.
Do you think this is a smart plan by Valve that will help prevent more account thefts?
