Anti-Cheat | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Tue, 21 Feb 2023 08:39:12 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Anti-Cheat | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Rainbow Six Siege anti-cheat feature will increase input lag for console cheaters https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/rainbow-six-siege-anti-cheat-feature-will-increase-input-lag-for-console-cheaters/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/rainbow-six-siege-anti-cheat-feature-will-increase-input-lag-for-console-cheaters/#respond Mon, 20 Feb 2023 15:27:47 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=593940 In recent years, teams behind anti-cheat systems have been experimenting with additional ways to curb the use of cheats. In Call of Duty, those caught cheating mid-game can lose the ability to see and hear enemies. The Rainbow Six Siege team is trying something a little different – unbearable input lag.  In an update posted …

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In recent years, teams behind anti-cheat systems have been experimenting with additional ways to curb the use of cheats. In Call of Duty, those caught cheating mid-game can lose the ability to see and hear enemies. The Rainbow Six Siege team is trying something a little different – unbearable input lag. 

In an update posted last week, Ubisoft confirmed Mousetrap, its latest anti-cheat measure set to go live soon. This is primarily aimed at console users, with plans to detect those using accessories to connect a mouse and keyboard on Xbox and PlayStation.

The Rainbow Six Siege anti-cheat team claims to have found a way to reliably detect the use of ‘input spoof' tools to gain an unfair advantage on console. Rather than being immediately banned, the anti-cheat system will start adding latency to the cheater's movements. The latency will continue to ramp up, leading to a situation where the game should effectively become unplayable and the advantage from using an input-spoofing device will be removed.

Ubisoft has found that these input-spoofing devices are much more prevalent amongst high ranks on console. Presumably, continued use of these devices will eventually lead to a ban, but first, the anti-cheat system will do everything it can to force you to disconnect it.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It will be interesting to see how this plays out. It may work for a while, but cheat makers are constantly looking for new ways to get around security measures, so Ubisoft will also have to pay attention to the market for input-spoofing devices to remain on top of new developments. 

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Call of Duty anti-cheat now completely disarms cheaters in online matches https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/call-of-duty-anti-cheat-now-completely-disarms-cheaters-in-online-matches/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/call-of-duty-anti-cheat-now-completely-disarms-cheaters-in-online-matches/#respond Mon, 20 Jun 2022 09:30:11 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=564855 Since introducing the Ricochet anti-cheat system, the Call of Duty anti-cheat team has been implementing new ways to mess with bad actors in online matches. Previously, cheaters have been unable deal damage to enemy players, have had their ability to see or hear the enemy removed and now, cheaters are having their weapons taken away …

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Since introducing the Ricochet anti-cheat system, the Call of Duty anti-cheat team has been implementing new ways to mess with bad actors in online matches. Previously, cheaters have been unable deal damage to enemy players, have had their ability to see or hear the enemy removed and now, cheaters are having their weapons taken away entirely. 

In its latest blog post, Activision developers revealed Call of Duty's latest cheat mitigation measure. The new method will spot cheaters and simply take their weapons away. They won't even be able to deal melee damage with their character's fists.

This new Disarm approach follows on from other methods Activision has tested, including Damage Shield, which makes legitimate players invulnerable to a cheater's bullets, and Cloaking, which makes legitimate players invisible to cheaters.

So why does Activision allow cheaters to remain in games rather than giving them a swift boot from the matchmaking pool? Well, this way, caught cheaters will remain in games, giving developers time to analyse their data, while hampering their ability to have an impact on the outcome of a game.

That's not to say large ban waves don't happen. Since April, Activision has issued over 180,000 bans across Warzone and Vanguard, Of course, a permanent ban nowadays will boot your account from past, present and future Call of Duty games.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: The Call of Duty team seems to be finding a new way to mess with cheaters every few months. The constant switch-ups are bound to keep cheat creators on their toes too. 

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Call of Duty anti-cheat now makes cheaters blind and deaf https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/call-of-duty-anti-cheat-now-makes-cheaters-blind-and-deaf/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/call-of-duty-anti-cheat-now-makes-cheaters-blind-and-deaf/#respond Mon, 02 May 2022 11:08:57 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=558985 With the launch of Call of Duty: Vanguard, the development team also revamped its anti-cheat efforts, with a new system called Ricochet. Using this new system, over 50,000 cheaters have already been banned from this year's Warzone update, as well as Vanguard multiplayer, and the developers are continuing to find new ways to mess with …

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With the launch of Call of Duty: Vanguard, the development team also revamped its anti-cheat efforts, with a new system called Ricochet. Using this new system, over 50,000 cheaters have already been banned from this year's Warzone update, as well as Vanguard multiplayer, and the developers are continuing to find new ways to mess with those caught cheating. 

Developers have come up with plenty of creative ways to punish cheaters in online games over the years. We've seen some titles group cheaters together in their own matchmaking pool. More recently, Call of Duty used its anti-cheat system to stop cheaters from dealing damage to legitimate players in any lobby. Now, the team is taking it a step further by making legitimate players completely invisible to cheaters.

As pointed out by the Ricochet anti-cheat team last week, there is now a new system in place to combat cheaters. Once the anti-cheat system catches out a cheater, they will find themselves unable to see or hear other players, or even weapon fire. Meanwhile, everyone else in the lobby can see and hear you, putting you at a major disadvantage and rendering the game unplayable.

At this point, the team has banned over 90,000 accounts for cheating since Vanguard launched through ban waves. Under the new rules, those players will also have their accounts banned for past, present and future Call of Duty titles.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: The early days of Warzone were riddled with cheaters, but the anti-cheat team seems to have a much better handle on the situation right now. However, Call of Duty is facing issues in other areas instead, as fewer players made the move over to Vanguard, leading to a 50 million active user drop for the series. 

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Bungie threatens to ban Destiny 2 players running on Steam Deck https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/bungie-threatens-to-ban-destiny-2-players-running-on-steam-deck/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/bungie-threatens-to-ban-destiny-2-players-running-on-steam-deck/#respond Wed, 02 Mar 2022 13:00:00 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=552294 Bungie has found itself in a spot of controversy this week, as the studio has revealed that it intends to ban any Destiny 2 player attempting to access the game on Steam Deck. Bungie says the Deck is an ‘unsupported platform', despite the fact that the game can run using Steam Proton, and the game's …

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Bungie has found itself in a spot of controversy this week, as the studio has revealed that it intends to ban any Destiny 2 player attempting to access the game on Steam Deck. Bungie says the Deck is an ‘unsupported platform', despite the fact that the game can run using Steam Proton, and the game's anti-cheat system, BattlEye, does support the Deck. 

In a new support page on the Bungie website, the company takes a hard stance against playing the game on the Steam Deck through SteamOS or Proton, Valve's compatibility tool that allows Windows-only games to run on Linux systems. The Steam Deck uses SteamOS 3.0, which is based on the Arch distro.

The page itself reads: “Destiny 2 is not supported for play on the Steam Deck or on any system utilizing Steam Play’s Proton unless Windows is installed and running. Players who attempt to launch Destiny 2 on the Steam Deck through SteamOS or Proton will be unable to enter the game and will be returned to their game library after a short time.”

Bungie adds that attempts to bypass this incompatibility will be “met with a game ban”. However, as The Verge points out, it wouldn't be all that difficult for Bungie to support the Steam Deck platform. Destiny 2 uses BattlEye anti-cheat, which does work on the Steam Deck – Valve even offers support to developers to get it enabled. Beyond that, there is already a Linux version of Destiny 2 available via Google Stadia, so unless there is a contractual obligation that we don't know about, Bungie could ship a native Linux version of Destiny 2.

Bungie has not expanded on or clarified the reasons for the lack of support here. However, if you install Windows on a Steam Deck and play Destiny 2 that way, you can play without getting banned.

KitGuru Says: Installing and setting up a Windows dual-boot on a Steam Deck seems so unnecessary when the tools are already in place for Destiny 2 to run on Linux. Hopefully Bungie can at least offer a better explanation if it intends to stick its guns on this. 

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Call of Duty Warzone anti-cheat now gives ‘god mode’ to non cheaters https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/call-of-duty-warzone-anti-cheat-now-gives-god-mode-to-non-cheaters/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/call-of-duty-warzone-anti-cheat-now-gives-god-mode-to-non-cheaters/#respond Mon, 21 Feb 2022 11:58:29 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=550939 Cheating is a tough problem for any studio to combat when creating a competitive shooter. In 2021, the Call of Duty Warzone team revamped its efforts in this area with a new anti-cheat system, known as Ricochet. Rather than grouping suspected cheaters together in their own lobbies, as we've seen in other games, Ricochet handles …

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Cheating is a tough problem for any studio to combat when creating a competitive shooter. In 2021, the Call of Duty Warzone team revamped its efforts in this area with a new anti-cheat system, known as Ricochet. Rather than grouping suspected cheaters together in their own lobbies, as we've seen in other games, Ricochet handles cheaters a little differently. 

Recently, Call of Duty: Warzone players have discovered a new side effect to cheating. Those tagged as cheaters online will suddenly lose the ability to deal damage to enemy players, essentially giving normal players a ‘god mode' effect when they come across someone with cheats enabled.

In a blog post, the Ricochet anti-cheat team explained this a bit further, saying: “One mitigation technique we’ve been testing is something we call Damage Shield. When the server detects a cheater is tampering with the game in real-time, it disables the cheater’s ability to inflict critical damage on other players. This mitigation leaves the cheater vulnerable to real players and allows #TeamRICOCHET to collect information about a cheater’s system.”

Encounters like this are tracked by the anti-cheat system to ensure damage shields aren't being applied to players by mistake. While this initially started off as a small test, this cheat mitigation technique is now deployed for all Warzone servers worldwide. However, the Ricochet team claims this is just “one of many” techniques in play, so we may see other punishments rolled out to cheaters in the future too, including in-game effects and not just temporary or permanent bans.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: With this system in place, assuming it can remain working long-term, should do a lot to combat cheating. It is no longer just a ban hammer that cheaters need to worry about, as there are also in-game punishments in place that can activate at a moments notice. We'll just have to hope that no legitimate players get caught in the crossfire with a system like this. 

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Over 48,000 Call of Duty: Vanguard and Warzone cheaters have been banned this month https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/over-48000-call-of-duty-vanguard-and-warzone-cheaters-have-been-banned-this-month/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/over-48000-call-of-duty-vanguard-and-warzone-cheaters-have-been-banned-this-month/#respond Fri, 24 Dec 2021 13:08:51 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=544832 Earlier this month, Call of Duty Warzone had its big Pacific update, overhauling the game with content based on Call of Duty: Vanguard. This re-launch also brought about a new kernel-level anti-cheat system for the game on PC and so far, almost 50,000 cheaters have been caught out in less than a month.  Activision announced …

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Earlier this month, Call of Duty Warzone had its big Pacific update, overhauling the game with content based on Call of Duty: Vanguard. This re-launch also brought about a new kernel-level anti-cheat system for the game on PC and so far, almost 50,000 cheaters have been caught out in less than a month. 

Activision announced Ricochet earlier this year, its new kernel-level anti-cheat system for Call of Duty on PC. Similarly to Riot's Vanguard anti-cheat system, Ricochet has a kernel-level driver, allowing for advanced permissions to better detect cheats.

Using older anti-cheat methods, over 500,000 Warzone cheaters were banned in an 18-month span. In just a few weeks of Ricochet being live, 48,000 cheaters have been banned since Warzone's relaunch earlier this month.

Ricochet anti-cheat is also now part of Call of Duty: Vanguard, so those playing the standard multiplayer modes should see fewer cheaters. There will of course still be some, and cheat makers will continue to find new ways to work around anti-cheat methods, but so far, Ricochet seems to be holding up well.

KitGuru Says: Have many of you been playing Warzone since the relaunch? Have you encountered fewer cheaters since Ricochet rolled out? 

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343i ‘committed’ to tackling cheaters in Halo Infinite Multiplayer https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/343i-committed-to-tackling-cheaters-in-halo-infinite-multiplayer/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/343i-committed-to-tackling-cheaters-in-halo-infinite-multiplayer/#respond Thu, 02 Dec 2021 13:28:18 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=542245 One of the biggest challenges with launching a free to play multiplayer shooter is keeping on top of cheaters. The problem only gets worse when a game features cross-platform matchmaking, as it introduces the problem of cheating to consoles, which are usually safe from such practices. With Halo Infinite Multiplayer now being available, 343 is …

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One of the biggest challenges with launching a free to play multiplayer shooter is keeping on top of cheaters. The problem only gets worse when a game features cross-platform matchmaking, as it introduces the problem of cheating to consoles, which are usually safe from such practices. With Halo Infinite Multiplayer now being available, 343 is beginning to address concerns around cheating. 

While Halo Infinite Multiplayer was safe for its first few days on the market, it didn't take long for cheat makers to bypass security and enable hacks like aimbot, ESP and more. As Eurogamer reports, there have been multiple clips of cheaters doing the rounds on social media over the last week.

Halo Community Manager, John Junyszek, spoke out on the growing issue with cheaters, saying that “unfortunately, cheating is a natural part of supporting a F2P PC game and it's one we anticipated”. He then added that the team is “prepared and committed to releasing consistent improvements” to in-game systems and taking action against cheaters.

One of the key issues right now is that Halo Infinite does not include an in-game report feature to quickly and conveniently report players who might be cheating. Instead, 343 asks that players submit a ticket on the Halo Support website and upload a video clip of the incident in question. An in-game report function will be coming in a future update.

Currently, the most effective way to combat cheaters in PC games is to include a kernel-level anti-cheat driver. Titles like Valorant have had success with this method and this year, Call of Duty: Warzone will be switching to a similar anti-cheat method on PC. However, these anti-cheat methods also catch flack for being invasive and disregarding user-privacy. Microsoft has not announced any plans to adopt a kernel-level anti-cheat system for Halo Infinite.

KitGuru Says: I haven't ran into any cheaters myself yet, but as the game grows in popularity, more and more cheaters will begin flocking over. Have you been playing Halo Infinite multiplayer since launch? Have you encountered any in-game cheaters? 

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New COD anti-cheat will ban cheaters from ‘past, present and future’ games in the series https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/new-cod-anti-cheat-will-ban-cheaters-from-past-present-and-future-games-in-the-series/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/new-cod-anti-cheat-will-ban-cheaters-from-past-present-and-future-games-in-the-series/#respond Tue, 16 Nov 2021 12:39:08 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=539788 With the release of Call of Duty: Vanguard, Activision is also introducing a new anti-cheat system, as well as harsher punishments for those caught cheating. As details in the updated security enforcement policy for Vanguard, those caught cheating will lead to permanent bans in all Call of Duty titles.  The team behind the Ricochet anti-cheat …

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With the release of Call of Duty: Vanguard, Activision is also introducing a new anti-cheat system, as well as harsher punishments for those caught cheating. As details in the updated security enforcement policy for Vanguard, those caught cheating will lead to permanent bans in all Call of Duty titles. 

The team behind the Ricochet anti-cheat system updated the security enforcement policy this week, noting that “extreme cases of cheating” will lead to permanent suspensions that apply across the entire Call of Duty series, including “past, present or future titles” in the franchise.

Such a measure will be taken in “extreme cases” of cheating, or for “repeated violations of the security policy, such as in-game cheating”. You will also now be found in violation of the security policy if you “attempt to hide, disguise, or obfuscate” your hardware ID, which is often used to ban specific PCs from accessing the game, and avoid repeated account creations.

Richochet Anti-Cheat is debuting with Call of Duty: Vanguard's Warzone refresh, which is due to roll out before the end of this year. The system is only present in the PC version of the game, which should help clear up the number of cheaters in the crossplay matchmaking pool for console users.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Riot has had success with its own kernel-level anti-cheat system in Valorant, so hopefully Call of Duty's new Ricochet anti-cheat will follow a similar path. 

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Call of Duty ‘Ricochet’ anti-cheat driver leaks one day after being announced https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/call-of-duty-ricochet-anti-cheat-driver-leaks-one-day-after-being-announced/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/call-of-duty-ricochet-anti-cheat-driver-leaks-one-day-after-being-announced/#respond Fri, 15 Oct 2021 09:00:59 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=535713 Earlier this week, Activision announced Ricochet anti-cheat, a new system being implemented to protect Call of Duty Vanguard and Warzone from cheaters. This new form of anti-cheat includes a kernel-level driver, providing deeper access to your system to closely monitor any software interacting with Call of Duty. It would have been a strong method of anti-cheat, but the kernel-level driver has already leaked, giving cheat creators a huge head start. 

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Earlier this week, Activision announced Ricochet anti-cheat, a new system being implemented to protect Call of Duty Vanguard and Warzone from cheaters. This new form of anti-cheat includes a kernel-level driver, providing deeper access to your system to closely monitor any software interacting with Call of Duty. It would have been a strong method of anti-cheat, but the kernel-level driver has already leaked, giving cheat creators a huge head start. 

Just one day after Ricochet was announced, someone has leaked the kernel-level driver and Ricochet anti-cheat files. The leak has been verified by Modern Warzone and the files themselves are just a few weeks old. With this fairly recent version of the anti-cheat system out in the wild, cheat creators can begin reverse-engineering and combing through the files to find vulnerabilities to exploit well ahead of launch.

While the files were initially spread through private cheat groups, they have now also made their way over to public cheat forums. While this is bad and does give cheaters an advantage ahead of launch, Ricochet anti-cheat is also build with server-side enhancements and other security tools to detect cheats. As long as those elements are up to snuff, any early cheats made thanks to this driver leak will hopefully be detected quickly, followed by ban waves.

At this point, over 500,000 Call of Duty Warzone accounts have been banned for cheating. We'll have to wait for the Warzone refresh later this year to see how effective Ricochet anti-cheat is.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: There is a theory that this was an intentional leak containing fake files to throw cheat makers off, but nobody has been able to confirm this yet. 

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Call of Duty will get ‘Ricochet’ anti-cheat this year with kernel-level driver https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/call-of-duty-will-get-ricochet-anti-cheat-this-year-with-kernel-level-driver/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/call-of-duty-will-get-ricochet-anti-cheat-this-year-with-kernel-level-driver/#respond Thu, 14 Oct 2021 14:11:53 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=535643 Last year when Riot Games launched Valorant, the game launched with its own kernel-level anti-cheat system called Vanguard. Now, Activision is pulling a similar move with a new anti-cheat system for Call of Duty, known as ‘Ricochet'.  Activision has been talking up its plans for anti-cheat over the course of this year. With the launch …

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Last year when Riot Games launched Valorant, the game launched with its own kernel-level anti-cheat system called Vanguard. Now, Activision is pulling a similar move with a new anti-cheat system for Call of Duty, known as ‘Ricochet'. 

Activision has been talking up its plans for anti-cheat over the course of this year. With the launch of Call of Duty: Vanguard and the next Warzone refresh, we'll be seeing Ricochet Anti-Cheat included on PC. Much like Valorant's system, Ricochet includes a kernel-level driver that launches with the game for greater security. A kernel-level driver is granted high level access to your system and can monitor and manage software and applications.

This does bring up privacy concerns, but according to Activision, the driver only launches when you load Call of Duty: Vanguard and it only monitors activity related to the game. The driver also closes down when you exit Call of Duty, which should help alleviate some concerns as long as the system truly works this way.

As we've seen with Valorant, these kernel-level drivers do enhance security and heavily reduce the possibility of running into a cheater in-game, but there are workarounds, so it is still not a perfect system. With that in mind, the anti-cheat team will still need to remain vigilant and act quickly when new cheating methods are discovered.

Ricochet will first roll out with the Warzone refresh later this year and will then come to Call of Duty: Vanguard shortly after launch. Ricochet only applies to the PC version of the game, but it should have the bonus effect of reducing the number of cheaters encountered on consoles via cross-play.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: We'll see just how successful this new system is once Call of Duty: Warzone relaunches later this year with Vanguard content and in the months that follow. 

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New Call of Duty anti-cheat system to be announced this week https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/new-call-of-duty-anti-cheat-system-to-be-announced-this-week/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/new-call-of-duty-anti-cheat-system-to-be-announced-this-week/#respond Wed, 13 Oct 2021 15:14:00 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=535492 Since launching Call of Duty: Warzone, Raven Software has been in a nonstop battle against cheaters, banning tens of thousands of accounts on a regular basis. With Call of Duty: Vanguard coming soon, new anti-cheat technology will be implemented.  Back in August, Raven Software teased this move, stating that it is “listening and hard at …

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Since launching Call of Duty: Warzone, Raven Software has been in a nonstop battle against cheaters, banning tens of thousands of accounts on a regular basis. With Call of Duty: Vanguard coming soon, new anti-cheat technology will be implemented. 

Back in August, Raven Software teased this move, stating that it is “listening and hard at work” on future anti-cheat protections. Other sources also confirmed that Activision is working on a new anti-cheat system for the next major release.

That brings us to this week, with Activision issuing a warning to cheaters:

“Cheating ruins the fun for everyone. No one likes a cheater. Our goal is to deliver a fun and fair gaming experience for our developers. For our fans. And most importantly, for Call of Duty players everywhere. Cheaters aren’t welcome. There’s no tolerance for cheaters, and soon you’ll know what we mean.”

With that ominous warning out of the way, it sounds like Activision is going to make a big show out of its new anti-cheat technology ahead of Vanguard's launch on the 5th of November. Typically, Call of Duty titles have been very prone to cheaters, and with over 100 million Warzone players to keep an eye on, it will need a particularly strong method, perhaps something akin to Riot Vanguard, which Riot Games uses for Valorant on PC.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: While promises of strong anti-cheat are all well and good, we'll have to wait until launch to see just how effective it really is. Even then, eventually someone will find a workaround and developers will need to monitor and adjust swiftly to keep on top of it. 

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Call of Duty to get new anti-cheat, 50,000 Warzone cheaters banned this week https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/call-of-duty-to-get-new-anti-cheat-50000-warzone-cheaters-banned-this-week/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/call-of-duty-to-get-new-anti-cheat-50000-warzone-cheaters-banned-this-week/#respond Thu, 12 Aug 2021 16:00:37 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=527413 Raven Software has been banning tens of thousands of cheaters from Call of Duty: Warzone on a very regular basis lately. Just ahead of the new season, another 50,000 accounts were banned and better yet, new anti-cheat software is also being worked on.  As of March 2020, over 500,000 cheaters had been banned from Warzone, …

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Raven Software has been banning tens of thousands of cheaters from Call of Duty: Warzone on a very regular basis lately. Just ahead of the new season, another 50,000 accounts were banned and better yet, new anti-cheat software is also being worked on. 

As of March 2020, over 500,000 cheaters had been banned from Warzone, although since then, at least 100,000 more accounts have been banned, including the 50,000 banned this week. The studio revealed this on Twitter, adding that “more importantly, we are listening and hard at work behind the scenes”.

As reported by VGC, reputable leaker, Tom Henderson, has stated that Activision is working on a new anti-cheat system for future Call of Duty games. This has been in development for over a year and will debut with Call of Duty: Vanguard later this year.

As you would expect, this same anti-cheat system will also carry over to Call of Duty: Warzone, although exactly how effective this new system will be still remains to be seen.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Cheaters have been poking holes in Call of Duty's anti-cheat system for years, but perhaps we'll finally have something robust. This is particularly important now, as cross-play between consoles and PC becomes more popular. 

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AI-assisted Call of Duty cheat for PC and console targeted by Activision https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/ai-assisted-call-of-duty-cheat-for-pc-and-console-targeted-by-activision/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/ai-assisted-call-of-duty-cheat-for-pc-and-console-targeted-by-activision/#respond Mon, 12 Jul 2021 16:52:52 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=523192 Activision is no stranger to cheaters in its games, with Call of Duty being a target of cheat makers each year due to its popularity. Recently, a new kind of cheat was discovered, using machine learning and automatic input commands to allow aimbot on consoles. As you would expect, Activision is already trying to crack …

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Activision is no stranger to cheaters in its games, with Call of Duty being a target of cheat makers each year due to its popularity. Recently, a new kind of cheat was discovered, using machine learning and automatic input commands to allow aimbot on consoles. As you would expect, Activision is already trying to crack down on this new form of cheat.

The cheat was made public by channels on YouTube, some of which were promoting the cheat, as well as the Anti-Cheat Police Department twitter account. The cheat itself runs on a PC, relying on a capture card to monitor the video feed coming from a console, alternatively, the cheat could also be used playing the PC version of a game.

Using machine learning, the cheat sends an input to the controller whenever it sees a valid target, so you could theoretically just run around in Call of Duty multiplayer and the cheat will do all the shooting and aiming for you. Given that the cheat could bypass console security in this way, it is a top priority for Activision to get on top of.

Activision has now begun issuing DMCA takedown notices for promotional videos advertising the cheat and will be looking to get the site issuing the cheats shut down too.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It is good that Activision is already aware of this. Warzone can already be bad enough at times. 

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Epic Games makes its cross-platform voice chat and anti-cheat tools free https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/epic-games-makes-its-cross-platform-voice-chat-and-anti-cheat-tools-free/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/epic-games-makes-its-cross-platform-voice-chat-and-anti-cheat-tools-free/#respond Wed, 23 Jun 2021 16:28:22 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=520932 Over the last few years, Epic Games has been working on making Fortnite’s online feature set accessible and free to all developers. Today, Epic has an update on just that, announcing that its voice chat technology and Easy Anti-Cheat system is free for developers to use in any game being built on any engine.  Epic …

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Over the last few years, Epic Games has been working on making Fortnite’s online feature set accessible and free to all developers. Today, Epic has an update on just that, announcing that its voice chat technology and Easy Anti-Cheat system is free for developers to use in any game being built on any engine. 

Epic Online Services now includes voice chat and anti-cheat systems. There are no limitations on engines, stores or platforms, giving developers freedom with the projects they use this on. As Epic says in its announcement, the goal is to “empower more developers to build cross-platform games, connect their player communities, grow the games industry, and realise the vision of the Metaverse”.

The Metaverse is a reference to Epic Games’ plan to collaborate with creators across industries. We’ve seen a lot of this in games like Fortnite already, with crossover events with other IP happening on a regular basis.

The voice tool is the same one used in Fortnite, so it is already built to be cross-platform compatible. Meanwhile, Easy Anti Cheat is a relatively new addition to Epic’s roster, having acquired the company back in 2018.

KitGuru Says: Epic will be adding more tools to its free Epic Online Services suite over time.  Hopefully this will make it easier for game developers looking to reach and connect players across different platforms.

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Rainbow Six Siege devs aim to improve anti-cheat this year https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/rainbow-six-siege-devs-aim-to-improve-anti-cheat-this-year/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/rainbow-six-siege-devs-aim-to-improve-anti-cheat-this-year/#respond Thu, 04 Feb 2021 09:56:27 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=503494 Rainbow Six Siege has had a ton of success over the years but as with any popular competitive shooter, the developers are constantly wrestling with cheaters. Over the course of 2020, just over 91,000 players were banned for cheating and in 2021, Ubisoft wants to take Siege's anti-cheat to the next level.  In a blog …

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Rainbow Six Siege has had a ton of success over the years but as with any popular competitive shooter, the developers are constantly wrestling with cheaters. Over the course of 2020, just over 91,000 players were banned for cheating and in 2021, Ubisoft wants to take Siege's anti-cheat to the next level. 

In a blog post this week, the Rainbow Six Siege team confirmed that it caught and banned more cheaters in 2020 than it did in 2019 – to be specific, 44% more accounts were banned last year. In 2021, the developers aim to catch more cheaters out with reinforced anti-cheat methods.

The developers are focusing on three core points to tackle cheaters in 2021 – improved cheat detection, increased barriers to prevent rogue code interacting with the game and the “reduction of impact” of cheats in-game.

The goal is to catch and ban cheaters faster than before. Specifics on the methods used aren't detailed, but this is common practise to avoid giving cheat makers the upper-hand in finding new work-arounds for the fixes in place.

KitGuru Says: Tackling cheaters is a constant game of cat and mouse but the Siege developers seem up to the task. Do many of you still play Rainbow Six Siege? Has cheating impacted you in competitive matches?

 

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DOOM Eternal producer addresses Denuvo controversy and performance issues https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/doom-eternal-producer-addresses-denuvo-controversy-and-performance-issues/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/doom-eternal-producer-addresses-denuvo-controversy-and-performance-issues/#respond Thu, 21 May 2020 07:21:26 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=468147 Last week, there was some controversy surrounding DOOM Eternal thanks to the recent addition of Denuvo Anti-Cheat for multiplayer. Folks already disagree with Denuvo's Anti-Tamper DRM, so piling on more Denuvo software caused a particularly negative response. However, after evaluating feedback, Bethesda has changed its mind. Over on Reddit this week, DOOM executive producer, Marty …

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Last week, there was some controversy surrounding DOOM Eternal thanks to the recent addition of Denuvo Anti-Cheat for multiplayer. Folks already disagree with Denuvo's Anti-Tamper DRM, so piling on more Denuvo software caused a particularly negative response. However, after evaluating feedback, Bethesda has changed its mind.

Over on Reddit this week, DOOM executive producer, Marty Stratton, announced that Denuvo Anti-Cheat will be removed from the game in the next patch: “Despite our best intentions, feedback from players has made it clear that we must re-evaluate our approach to anti-cheat integration. With that, we will be removing the anti-cheat technology from the game in our next PC update.”

Stratton goes on to say that the team will be re-examining the future of anti-cheat in DOOM Eternal. In particular, the team must “consider giving campaign-only players the ability to play without anti-cheat software installed”.

Denuvo is often attributed with causing performance issues on PC, so when last week's DOOM Eternal update began causing crashes and other problems, people were quick to pin it on the new anti-cheat system. However, according to Stratton, these issues are not related to Denuvo, and are instead based on a code change relating to VRAM allocation, which will now be reverted in the next PC patch.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Denuvo anti-cheat will be leaving DOOM Eternal and hopefully, a better option will come along in the months to come. What do you all think of id Software's response to last week's controversy? 

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Riot’s Vanguard anti-cheat can now be disabled from the Windows system tray https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/riots-vanguard-anti-cheat-can-now-be-disabled-from-the-windows-system-tray/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/riots-vanguard-anti-cheat-can-now-be-disabled-from-the-windows-system-tray/#respond Wed, 29 Apr 2020 17:17:40 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=464598 A couple of weeks ago, Valorant beta players were quick to discover that the game's anti-cheat system, Vanguard, loads a kernel-level driver on your system, meaning the anti-cheat is present the moment Windows boots up. There were of course some security concerns around this, but Riot has been explaining its side of things and has …

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A couple of weeks ago, Valorant beta players were quick to discover that the game's anti-cheat system, Vanguard, loads a kernel-level driver on your system, meaning the anti-cheat is present the moment Windows boots up. There were of course some security concerns around this, but Riot has been explaining its side of things and has now added a way to shut down Vanguard when you are not playing the game.

A Vanguard icon will now show up in the system tray in Windows, letting you know that the anti-cheat system has activated in preparation for you to play Valorant. From there, you can disable it entirely, or you can even uninstall Vanguard.

Of course, Vanguard is still required to play Valorant, so if you disable it, you will have to restart your PC before being able to play. If you fully uninstall it, the game will require you to re-install it first, so it isn't a perfect solution.

The concern here is that since Vanguard uses a kernel-level driver, it has higher system privileges and if vulnerabilities are found, it could lead to a security disaster for users. However, Riot is utilising security experts and consistent monitoring to ensure that doesn't happen.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Ultimately, it is up to you on whether to trust Riot's Vanguard system or not. On the one hand, this method should keep the game highly secure from cheaters, but if vulnerabilities are exploited, it could have implications that reach beyond the game.

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Riot dev explains Valorant’s anti-cheat kernel driver and why it activates when you boot your PC https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/riot-dev-explains-valorants-anti-cheat-kernel-driver-and-why-it-activates-when-you-boot-your-pc/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/riot-dev-explains-valorants-anti-cheat-kernel-driver-and-why-it-activates-when-you-boot-your-pc/#respond Tue, 14 Apr 2020 15:47:15 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=461990 Back when Riot first announced Valorant, the studio talked briefly about plans to have ultra responsive servers and a proprietary anti-cheat system. Now we know a bit more about that anti-cheat system, as it installs as a kernel driver on your PC and activates as soon as your PC boots up. The kernel anti-cheat driver …

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Back when Riot first announced Valorant, the studio talked briefly about plans to have ultra responsive servers and a proprietary anti-cheat system. Now we know a bit more about that anti-cheat system, as it installs as a kernel driver on your PC and activates as soon as your PC boots up.

The kernel anti-cheat driver is called ‘vgk.sys', so if you have Valorant installed on your PC, you may notice that in your list of background processes, even when not running the game. For comparison, systems like VAC, BattlEye and EasyAntiCheat all load up once you launch a game and don't run in the background after closing the game down.

One developer, known as RiotArkem on Reddit, wanted to alleviate concerns of snooping or unwanted file scans while not playing the game, giving the following explanation: “Vanguard contains a driver component called vgk.sys (similar to other anti-cheat systems), it's the reason why a reboot is required after installing. Vanguard doesn't consider the computer trusted unless the Vanguard driver is loaded at system startup (this part is less common for anti-cheat systems).”

The reason for this is that cheaters can bypass anti-cheat systems by loading the cheats themselves before the anti-cheat system has a chance to start. Running the anti-cheat driver at startup makes it harder for cheat software to tamper with the main game.

However, there are still understandable security concerns here, as a flawed driver with escalated privileges could spell disaster and provide an entry point for hackers to run rogue code without the user knowing. With that in mind, RiotArkem explains that the studio has consulted “multiple external security research teams” to review it for flaws. The driver component of the anti-cheat system is also supposed to do “as little as possible”, passing on the majority of the work to the non-driver component, which doesn't kick in until Valorant is actually launched.

The driver “does not collect or send any information” about the user's PC back to Riot and any cheat detection scans will take place when Valorant is running. With that in mind, it should not be scanning your PC in the background without your knowledge. Finally, the Vanguard driver (vgk.sys) can be uninstalled from your PC at any time, although the studio assures that it does not communicate over networks or collect information from your PC.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: It doesn't seem that this will be a huge security issue, but Riot will need to keep its ears open to the cyber security community and act swiftly in the event of significant flaws, not just for the protection of the game, but for the protection of users that have it installed.

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Respawn has banned 355K Apex Legends cheaters so far, plans future improvements https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/respawn-has-banned-355k-apex-legends-cheaters-so-far-plans-future-improvements/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/respawn-has-banned-355k-apex-legends-cheaters-so-far-plans-future-improvements/#respond Mon, 11 Mar 2019 09:09:50 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=406288 Apex Legends has been out for just over a month now and during that time, the game has swiftly risen past 50 million players. Of course, like any fast-rising multiplayer game, keeping on top of cheaters is imperative to continued success. So far, over 355,000 cheaters have been caught out by Apex Legends' anti-cheat system. …

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Apex Legends has been out for just over a month now and during that time, the game has swiftly risen past 50 million players. Of course, like any fast-rising multiplayer game, keeping on top of cheaters is imperative to continued success. So far, over 355,000 cheaters have been caught out by Apex Legends' anti-cheat system.

As part of Respawn's weekly check-in with players, the team revealed that so far, 355K players have been banned for cheating after being caught out by the Easy-Anti-Cheat service. While that is a fairly good number, there are still plenty of complaints going around, as cheaters continue to try and take advantage of this game early on.

In order to keep up, Respawn has said that it is “working on improvements to combat cheaters”. Of course, specific plans need to be kept secret so as not to give cheat developers an edge on finding new ways to exploit the game. However, the studio did say that there are plans to add a ‘report' button in-game that flags up suspected players through the Easy-Anti-Cheat system.

Aside from that, the anti-cheat team is going to be scaled up and have more dedicated resources. Respawn has also begun consulting with anti-cheat experts within and outside of EA to find other areas of improvement.

KitGuru Says: One of the areas that really began hurting PUBG's reputation was slow anti-cheat, so Respawn will need to avoid falling in to a similar trap. This can be tricky to do, especially when a game's player base is growing at such a fast pace but hopefully Respawn will prove to be up to the challenge. Are many of you still playing Apex regularly? Have you encountered issues with cheaters?

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PUBG’s ongoing anti-cheat efforts have seen 13 million accounts banned to date https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/damien-cox/pubgs-ongoing-anti-cheat-efforts-have-seen-13-million-accounts-banned-to-date/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/damien-cox/pubgs-ongoing-anti-cheat-efforts-have-seen-13-million-accounts-banned-to-date/#respond Wed, 03 Oct 2018 14:30:03 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=389370 As a part of its ongoing FIX PUBG campaign, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds finally received its in-house anti-cheat technology last month. Working alongside BattlEye’s defence against hackers, it’s now been revealed that 13 million cheaters have been banned so far. PUBG has struggled with hackers since it gained popularity, with complaints reaching an all-time high in November …

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As a part of its ongoing FIX PUBG campaign, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds finally received its in-house anti-cheat technology last month. Working alongside BattlEye’s defence against hackers, it’s now been revealed that 13 million cheaters have been banned so far.

PUBG has struggled with hackers since it gained popularity, with complaints reaching an all-time high in November 2017. Fortunately, Bluehole began to frequently update fans of ban waves, reassuring players that it was taking action against “unauthorised use of illegal programs.” Not only was Reddit user sjk045 able to determine that 13 million players had been banned after collecting all 69 data entries, they were also able to construct a graph to showcase the trend of ban waves as they happened.

Although these stats show separate accounts being banned, it doesn’t consider individual players returning to the title under a different in-game name. Still, there is a noticeable peak where BattlEye had previously stated it managed to ban over 1 million cheaters in January alone.

This trend has crept downwards in the following months, prompting thoughts of success in PUBG's ongoing anti-cheat efforts, however a notable portion of this might come from the dwindling player base. PUBG dipped below 1 million concurrent players on PC last month, for the first time since it broke that barrier. Still, a peak of 961,139 concurrent players at the time of writing is certainly nothing to scoff at.

KitGuru Says: It seems that many players have moved on to other games like Fortnite, however it's much more difficult to determine how the current numbers stack against Epic Games' rival battle royale. Are you still enjoying PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds?

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Denuvo is soon to release its own anti-cheat software https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/damien-cox/denuvo-is-soon-to-release-its-own-anti-cheat-software/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/damien-cox/denuvo-is-soon-to-release-its-own-anti-cheat-software/#respond Thu, 23 Aug 2018 09:29:42 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=384305 For the past three years, Denuvo has kept software crackers on their toes with its divisive digital rights management. Now, having been acquired by parent company Irdeto, Denuvo is looking to join the ranks of BattlEye with its own anti-piracy technology, “soon to be launched as a full end-to-end solution.” The news arrived alongside the …

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For the past three years, Denuvo has kept software crackers on their toes with its divisive digital rights management. Now, having been acquired by parent company Irdeto, Denuvo is looking to join the ranks of BattlEye with its own anti-piracy technology, “soon to be launched as a full end-to-end solution.”

The news arrived alongside the reveal that Denuvo would be joining the Esports Integrity Coalition (ESIC), an entire organisation built from the ground up to combat cheating within the competitive scene. It hasn’t been revealed just how the company plans to achieve this, but it will “prevent hackers in multiplayer games from manipulating and distorting data and code to gain an advantage over other gamers.”

Denuvo will also place a focus on protecting the integrity of in-game microtransactions by stopping players from spoofing digital stores into allowing them to bypass the purchase. According to the firm, “this will prevent dilution of the value of the game for the user and the game studio.”

The decision to join the ranks of the Esports Integrity Coalition follows The Global Gaming Survey, commissioned by Irdeto earlier this year. Running from February 27, 2018 to March 14, 2018, the survey at a total of 5,911 gamers across China, Germany, Japan, South Korea, the UK and the US.

This revealed that “more than half of gamers in the UK (61%) and Germany (61%) have had their multiplayer gaming experience negatively impacted by other players cheating.” As many as 74% of the affected UK gamers and 68% of Germany felt they were likely to stop playing a game if their enemies regularly gained an unfair advantage through cheating.

It seems as though Denuvo will primarily be focusing on the esports scene initially, perhaps making its technology available to commercial players of the particular games it focuses on. There is no current window of release aside from a vague “soon” from Irdeto.

Although Denuvo has gained some notoriety among PC gamers for its intrusive anti-tamper technology, sometimes even causing performance problems within specific games, its methods arguably achieved results by restricting piracy for a lot longer than other anti-piracy measures out there. Hopefully it can drop the performance issues but give us similar, if not better results with its anti-cheat.

KitGuru Says: I do always get a warm feeling in my chest every time a BattlEye ban wave emerges, which could only get better if it happened more frequently. I welcome any focused anti-cheat methods no matter who they’re from, and truly hope Denuvo can bring something effective to the table. How do you feel about Denuvo stepping into the anti-cheat arena?

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Valve makes history with over 90,000 VAC bans in one week https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/damien-cox/valve-makes-history-with-over-90000-vac-bans-in-one-week/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/damien-cox/valve-makes-history-with-over-90000-vac-bans-in-one-week/#respond Mon, 23 Jul 2018 08:53:08 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=380536 While Ubisoft is just finding its feet in punishing hackers, Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) is often celebrated among players, becoming a staple term for those that get banned both on and off Steam. VAC bans have reached an all-time high last week, with over 90,000 players being hit with the banhammer. Thursday 19th July, 2018 alone …

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While Ubisoft is just finding its feet in punishing hackers, Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) is often celebrated among players, becoming a staple term for those that get banned both on and off Steam. VAC bans have reached an all-time high last week, with over 90,000 players being hit with the banhammer.

Thursday 19th July, 2018 alone marked a prolific day for the video game firm, as SteamDB‘s bans per day shows that over 61,000 players were offed by VAC. Not only is this a step up from Wednesday’s 28,000 bans, but it has beaten the company’s previous single-wave record of 40,000 in one day.

It is uncertain what prompted the sizeable ban wave, but as always with VAC bans, all accounts caught have been treated with a zero tolerance policy. When banned by VAC, players are not given the option to appeal, with their individual game accounts essentially being gone for good. It’s likely that Valve could have uncovered a new exploit in order to claim such numbers, however the company is unlikely to elaborate any time soon.

Valve launched its anti-cheat back in 2002, deployed against players of the original Counter-Strike. Since then, over 300 games have boasted the company’s “VAC Protected” label, continued by Valve’s current eSport hits Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Dota 2 as well as third-party titles like Call of Duty and Ark: Survival Evolved.

KitGuru Says: Although Valve has done well for itself with its anti-cheat efforts, VAC is by no means perfect. Still, the solution beats most others on the market, offering players a relatively safe haven from exploits and hackers. Do you trust VAC to protect your gaming experience or do you prefer other services such as BattlEye?

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Ubisoft finally addresses cheaters in Siege, introducing two-factor authentication https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/damien-cox/ubisoft-finally-addresses-cheaters-in-siege-introducing-two-factor-authentication/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/damien-cox/ubisoft-finally-addresses-cheaters-in-siege-introducing-two-factor-authentication/#respond Mon, 09 Jul 2018 08:49:01 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=379037 Ubisoft has bolstered its efforts to combat cheaters over the past month, making it so that entering the same party as a hacker is a bannable offense under its policy against “boosting.” Hoping to further dent the ongoing epidemic, the publisher will eventually be introducing two-factor authentication as a requirement to all players wanting to …

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Ubisoft has bolstered its efforts to combat cheaters over the past month, making it so that entering the same party as a hacker is a bannable offense under its policy against “boosting.” Hoping to further dent the ongoing epidemic, the publisher will eventually be introducing two-factor authentication as a requirement to all players wanting to search for Ranked games.

Operation Para Bellum has seen a vast increase in cheaters, from the traditional wallhacks and aimbot to the unconventional abuse of teleporting across the map. This has caused many content creators and professionals to take a step back from the game, particularly as Ubisoft has remained silent on the matter, until now.

Outlining its new efforts in a blog post, Ubisoft describes that it has increased its “internal penetration testing efforts” in order to discover weak points in the game’s architecture prior to their exploitation. It has refined the process it uses to deploy hotfixes, seeing one undisclosed hack addressed last week.

Players will be able to boot up the game next week and see a ban wave, as Ubisoft sees the first 600 accounts boosted by cheaters kicked from the game on July 16th. Intentionally queuing with a hacker, therefore boosting the rank of the user’s account became a bannable offense on June 11th, following an update to Ubisoft’s Code of Conduct.

While the developer explores restrictions of players’ Match Making Rank (MMR), such as negating gains and losses from games with hackers to enforcing a limit on skill gaps in parties for Ranked matches, Ubisoft will firmly be implementing two-factor authentication in a bid to stomp out cheaters on PC.

This is a tried-and-tested method that is used by competitive goliath Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, specifically taking aim at the endless multiple accounts that hackers go through. Ubisoft currently has no date penned in for when the method will become mandatory, but it is currently in the process of testing the tech and will let players know dates once the tests are complete.

Cheaters should also beware that Ubisoft has mentioned the possibility of taking legal action against those that are caught, an increasing trend in the industry lately. Epic Games has helped set the precedence with Fortnite: Battle Royale, despite both cases seemingly settled out of court.

KitGuru Says: I can never understand cheating in competitive games, with players paying more money to achieve a rank they haven’t earned at the expense of everyone else’s fun. It’s good to see efforts to curb the practice as much as possible. Have you experienced hackers recently? What games have been the worst culprits for you?

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PUBG Corp offers in-game compensation to wrongfully banned players during anti-cheat tests https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/damien-cox/pubg-corp-offers-in-game-compensation-to-wrongfully-banned-players-during-anti-cheat-tests/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/damien-cox/pubg-corp-offers-in-game-compensation-to-wrongfully-banned-players-during-anti-cheat-tests/#respond Thu, 21 Jun 2018 09:48:06 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=377431 PUBG Corp has been testing its new anti-cheat measures over the past year, accidentally banning a plethora of innocent players in the process. While the developer has already corrected the mistake, it has now offered a “small compensation” of 20,000 Battle Points (BP), the in-game currency, to all who were wrongfully punished. “As you know, …

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PUBG Corp has been testing its new anti-cheat measures over the past year, accidentally banning a plethora of innocent players in the process. While the developer has already corrected the mistake, it has now offered a “small compensation” of 20,000 Battle Points (BP), the in-game currency, to all who were wrongfully punished.

“As you know, one of our highest priorities is working towards eliminating hackers and cheaters from PUBG,” the developer explains in a Steam Community post. “We’ve made great strides in this area recently, but unfortunately sometimes we get it wrong, which was the case recently when a number of players were improperly banned and were unable to access the game for a period of time.”

Cheat detection and prevention is an important part of PUBG’s development, as it listens to the continued outcry of fans suffering from its hacker issue. Despite the wrongful bans, PUBG Corp ensures that it will be pushing ahead with further tests and asks the player base to be patient where possible.

Many of the bans came from apparent bugs during PUBG’s 3.8.38.15 version, with anyone logged in “between June 16, 11am—1:30pm PDT / June 16, 8pm—10:30pm CEST / June 17, 3am—5:30am KST” being eligible for the compensation. Similarly, those affected by botched internal ban detection logic can also claim.

“For those players who were affected, we will be granting a small compensation of 20,000 BP to your accounts,” continues PUBG Corp. “Compensation should already be showing up in affected players accounts. Please check below for full details on which accounts are eligible to receive this compensation. We apologize for anyone who missed out on game time due to this error and hope that this compensation helps make up for that lost time.”

KitGuru Says: While unfortunate, it’s a necessity in order to stomp out the underhanded practice of cheating. At the very least, the added compensation is a nice touch from the developer. Were you affected by a wrongful ban? Are you okay with being wrongfully banned given that it’ll help against cheater in the future?

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Valve’s VACnet anti-cheat system has over 3,000 CPUs powering it https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/valves-vacnet-anti-cheat-system-has-over-3000-cpus-powering-it/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/valves-vacnet-anti-cheat-system-has-over-3000-cpus-powering-it/#respond Mon, 26 Mar 2018 17:11:25 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=368446 Back in February 2017, Valve revealed that it was implementing a new approach to catch out cheaters in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. You'll often find users online complaining about cheaters in CS:GO, and VAC bans usually come in slow waves. To tackle this, Valve turned to machine learning to catch them out, and now we know …

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Back in February 2017, Valve revealed that it was implementing a new approach to catch out cheaters in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. You'll often find users online complaining about cheaters in CS:GO, and VAC bans usually come in slow waves. To tackle this, Valve turned to machine learning to catch them out, and now we know a bit more about the system.

VACnet is a new server farm running machine learning techniques to analyse CS:GO matches and detect cheats. Valve programmer, John McDonald talked about the system at GDC last week. Research in to VACnet began in 2016, when complaints of cheating in CS:GO reached an all-time high. Rather than continuing the arms race where Valve detects/bans cheats and developers create new ones, the team decided to implement machine learning to adapt over time and hopefully catch people out faster.

Currently, VACnet trains itself from monitoring matches and submitting cases where a cheat has been flagged to Valve. The CS:GO team then reviews the cases submitted and will determine guilt, which in turn, helps the algorithm learn how to properly detect cheats. Having humans review each case will also help stop users from being burned by false bans as VACnet gets off the ground.

As PCGamer reports, the VACnet servers are powered by 54 CPU cores and 128GB of RAM per blade. There are 16 blades per chassis, and four chassis in total. In all, that means VACnet is powered by 3,456 processors in total. Currently, Valve only needs 1,700 CPUs to handle all of the data coming in from CS:GO each day, but it decided to throw twice as much power at the system to leave room for future expansion.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: CS:GO does have its share of cheaters but I think the issue can be blown out of proportion at times. Without a killcam system in competitive mode, it can be easy to call foul play if you don’t get to see how things played out from the other player’s perspective. Still, it sounds like VACnet is a good step forward, and will hopefully result in fairer competitive matches going forward.

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PUBG rolls back anti-cheat update after players experience issues https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/damien-cox/pubg-rolls-back-anti-cheat-update-after-players-experience-issues/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/damien-cox/pubg-rolls-back-anti-cheat-update-after-players-experience-issues/#respond Mon, 12 Mar 2018 14:51:46 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=366793 PUBG Corp’s latest attempt at quelling cheaters has caused quite the stir, with its initial testing having caused legitimate players to receive a temporary ban. This issue was quickly ironed out, however more cropped up over the weekend as many players began reporting a series of crashing and stuttering. Ultimately, the developer has now double …

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PUBG Corp’s latest attempt at quelling cheaters has caused quite the stir, with its initial testing having caused legitimate players to receive a temporary ban. This issue was quickly ironed out, however more cropped up over the weekend as many players began reporting a series of crashing and stuttering. Ultimately, the developer has now double backed on itself, rolling back to a previous update for the time being.

The anti-cheat update hit the live servers on Friday, with one arm of PUBG’s official Twitter boasting the good news that it has been fairly effective in blocking cheats. Unfortunately, the technology wasn’t quite as refined as the developer had hoped, with many reports cropping up about users experiencing difficulty running the game.

Although the update remained live throughout the weekend, the problem was spotted promptly as the team began to figure out what was causing the problems. PUBG Corp has determined that the main cause of the issue is the anti-cheat software clashing with other programs, causing strange interactions.

“Some of us in the office have experienced the same problems ourselves, and after some troubleshooting we’ve determined that various programs are interfering with our anti-cheat solution, and that there’s a lot of tweaking we need to do on our end to fix that,” explains the lead community manager on Reddit.

It was explained that a Text Expansion app was the cause of the problem in the office, with reports of anti-virus software also threatening the stability of the game and even recording software such as OBS.

While closing these programs did solve the issue for the few that could determine what program was causing the problem, the issue was widespread enough for PUBG Corp to pull the patch completely and revert back to its previous state.

The developers are now hard at work trying to fix these issues to get the patch back out there, believing it to be one of the better solutions to PUBG’s rampant hacker problem. No time frame has been given, but it’s likely to be back in full force soon.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: At the very least, if what PUBG Corp is saying about the anti-cheat’s effectiveness is true, then it’s certainly something to look forward to. Did you experience issues throughout this weekend? Did you notice less cheaters?

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PUBG will be getting additional anti-cheat tools soon https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/pubg-will-be-getting-additional-anti-cheat-tools-soon/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/pubg-will-be-getting-additional-anti-cheat-tools-soon/#respond Tue, 06 Feb 2018 11:06:54 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=363144 As PUBG has grown in popularity, the number of cheaters has also risen exponentially. Between launch and the end of 2017, 1.5 million players were banned after being caught cheating. This took a huge jump last month, with BattlEye revealing that an additional 1 million bans were handed out in January alone. To help clamp …

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As PUBG has grown in popularity, the number of cheaters has also risen exponentially. Between launch and the end of 2017, 1.5 million players were banned after being caught cheating. This took a huge jump last month, with BattlEye revealing that an additional 1 million bans were handed out in January alone. To help clamp down on the growing number of cheaters, soon the folks at PUBG Corp will be implementing their own internal anti-cheat solution.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds currently has more than 30 million players spread across PC and Xbox One. In an anti-cheat update this month, Dohyung Lee, Head of Service Management & Anti-Cheat said that the team “deeply sympathize with the inconvenience” caused by cheating. Adding that PUBG Corp has established “a dedicated team to focus on combating cheat programs”.

Since launch, PUBG has mainly relied on BattlEye and player reports to catch cheaters. However, the developers have created a new anti-cheat solution internally, which was initially due to hit live servers this week:

“We have developed a new anti-cheat solution internally. We will be introducing an early version of the solution on our live servers next week (this is the solution that is currently being tested on our test servers). This solution will complement the systems that have been developed and implemented already. Its main focus for now is blocking unauthorized programs but it will be further developed to broaden the scope of its abilities.”

This new anti-cheat system will block third-party programs going forward. This includes any app that ‘hooks' into the game, tampers with game files or adjusts graphics, like ReShade.

Unfortunately, some issues were found during the testing process. So while this anti-cheat system was supposed to arrive this week, it will now be delayed while the errors are ironed out: “PC players, the patch for the anti-cheat update has been delayed, as an unexpected issue has occurred while testing its compatibility. We will soon update you when it will be released. Thank you for your understanding.”

KitGuru Says: Cheating in PUBG has become a big topic of conversation over the last few months. Hopefully this new anti-cheat solution does a bit more to balance the scales and keep competition fair.

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More than 1 million cheaters were banned in PUBG last month alone https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/more-than-1-million-cheaters-were-banned-in-pubg-last-month-alone/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/more-than-1-million-cheaters-were-banned-in-pubg-last-month-alone/#comments Mon, 05 Feb 2018 11:48:05 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=363044 Two weeks ago, the folks at PUBG Corp announced that they would be taking down 100,000 cheaters in a single ban-wave. This move was applauded by much of the player base, but the final number of in-game bans in January turned out to be much more impressive. According to BattlEye, PUBG's anti-cheat software, over one …

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Two weeks ago, the folks at PUBG Corp announced that they would be taking down 100,000 cheaters in a single ban-wave. This move was applauded by much of the player base, but the final number of in-game bans in January turned out to be much more impressive. According to BattlEye, PUBG's anti-cheat software, over one million accounts were banned over the last month.

Over the last month alone, BattlEye banned over 1,044,000 cheaters in PUBG. While this is good news, the software makers warn that “unfortunately, things continue to escalate”. As PUBG gains in popularity, the number of cheaters has also risen substantially.

The number of bans in January is actually a very sharp rise. At the end of December, BattlEye announced that 1.5 million players had been caught out by the anti-cheat system since PUBG's initial launch earlier in 2017. This has now risen to 1 million bans in a single month, which just goes to show how popular and rife cheating can be in PUBG.

Fortunately, it seems like the anti-cheat system is getting better at detecting cheaters and catching them out. The new replay system will also help, allowing players to watch their game back and see where they were shot from. This makes it much easier to spot and report legitimate cheaters in-game.

KitGuru Says: I've noticed the number of complaints around PUBG cheaters going down on our Facebook page over the last month or so. Do you guys still play PUBG regularly? Is the anti-cheat system doing a good enough job at the moment?

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PUBG improves desert map after players alter files to avoid it, anti-cheat goes live on test server https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/damien-cox/pubg-improves-desert-map-after-players-alter-files-to-avoid-it-anti-cheat-goes-live-on-test-server/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/damien-cox/pubg-improves-desert-map-after-players-alter-files-to-avoid-it-anti-cheat-goes-live-on-test-server/#comments Tue, 30 Jan 2018 13:53:06 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=362424 PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds launched its second map when it fully launched last month, but not everyone seems happy regarding its inclusion. Some players have gone as far as deleting game files and crafting programs to forgo the map entirely, prompting PUBG Corp to make Miramar more interesting. Publisher Bluehole has noticed a sizeable portion of its …

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PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds launched its second map when it fully launched last month, but not everyone seems happy regarding its inclusion. Some players have gone as far as deleting game files and crafting programs to forgo the map entirely, prompting PUBG Corp to make Miramar more interesting.

Publisher Bluehole has noticed a sizeable portion of its player base for PUBG has been altering the game’s files in order to skip playing its new map, Miramar. This works by prompting the game to kick the user who lacks these files back to the in-game menu whenever Miramar is chosen over the previous map, Erangel. One user has even gone as far as to streamline the process by creating a program to do it for them.

Luckily, the latest PUBG update on PC aims to address these issues by adding more buildings and cover across the hugely open terrain, hoping to minimalise its empty feeling and “improve engagement experience.” Vehicles have also seen some improvement on the map, with more accessible off-road routes that can now be taken and improved loot spawns in certain areas, similar to that of the tweaks seen on Erangel.

Finally, the long-awaited new anti-cheat measures are currently being trialled on the game’s test servers. Developer PUBG Corp. is proceeding with caution as it expects this measure to cause some crashes, but at this point I’m sure the majority of the fan base would take intermittent crashes over the plethora of hackers seen in the battle royale title.

KitGuru Says: Despite its problems, it’s hard to argue that Bluehole and PUBG Corp. haven’t done their best in creating a great game for people to play. In total, the game has received a year’s worth of attention and made strides unheard of by already established titles. Hopefully this quells its current issues and makes it more enjoyable for everyone. Are you excited for the new anti-cheat? How do you feel about PUBG’s desert map, Miramar?

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PUBG developers apologise for cheaters following increased complaints https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/pubg-developers-apologise-for-cheaters-following-increased-complaints/ https://www.kitguru.net/gaming/matthew-wilson/pubg-developers-apologise-for-cheaters-following-increased-complaints/#comments Fri, 03 Nov 2017 11:52:49 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=353075 Over the last few weeks, there has been an increasing number of complaints regarding cheaters in PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Previously, the developers had prided themselves on the number of cheaters they catch on a daily/monthly basis but it seems that over time, cheat tools have become more resilient, which has been causing discontent amongst regular players. …

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Over the last few weeks, there has been an increasing number of complaints regarding cheaters in PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Previously, the developers had prided themselves on the number of cheaters they catch on a daily/monthly basis but it seems that over time, cheat tools have become more resilient, which has been causing discontent amongst regular players. The developers are aware of this, so starting today, some new anti-cheat measures will be rolling out.

Over on PUBG’s Steam Community page, Bluehole posted an update on the studio’s plans for future anti-cheat measures. The post starts off with an apology to players, before promising changes as new anti-cheat tools enter the game.

“First of all, we would like to sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused by the cheaters and we are sorry that you have not been able to enjoy PUBG in a safe and fair environment. Our development team is doing their best to detect and ban those who use cheats in a more proactive manner. We are aware that we still have much to do.”

At the moment, Bluehole is “in the process of adopting new tools to detect and verify users with unusual gameplay patterns”. Starting from today, these new measures will be rolling out, with permanent bans in store for those caught cheating. If an ‘unusual gameplay pattern’ is detected, then an account will be temporarily suspended while a manual investigation is conducted.

These new measures should help but the studio is also keen to point out that “the battle against cheaters will not end overnight”. Still, stronger action will be taken, with another anti-cheat update set to begin rolling out next week.

KitGuru Says: I haven’t played PUBG for around six weeks, so I’ve not had much experience with the increased number of in-game cheaters. However, if our Facebook comments are anything to go by, things have certainly got worse. Hopefully these new updates will help combat this swiftly, particularly given that the game is set to leave early access in late December.

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