Hustler Words – For as long as video games have existed, so have cheaters. But the rise of professional esports has transformed casual cheating into a lucrative industry, forcing game developers to escalate their anti-cheat strategies. Riot Games, the powerhouse behind League of Legends and Valorant, is at the forefront of this battle, employing sophisticated techniques to combat the ever-evolving tactics of cheat developers.
One of the most prominent weapons in Riot’s arsenal is Vanguard, a kernel-level anti-cheat system that provides unparalleled access to a player’s computer. Phillip Koskinas, Riot’s director and head of anti-cheat, describes Vanguard as a system that "forces cheats to be visible." This deep level of access allows Vanguard to leverage Windows security features like Trusted Platform Module (TPM) and Secure Boot, ensuring the system’s integrity and identifying unauthorized modifications. Vanguard also monitors hardware drivers for anomalies and prevents cheats from executing code in kernel memory. Koskinas explains, "We use or enforce all the security features that Microsoft and hardware manufacturers have leveraged to protect the operating system."
But technology alone isn’t enough. Koskinas’s team employs a "reconnaissance arm" that infiltrates cheat communities, gathering intelligence and even acquiring cheats to understand their workings. They use undercover identities, sometimes even sharing anti-cheat information to build trust and gain access to development processes. "We’ve even gone as far as giving anti-cheat information to establish credibility," Koskinas reveals, "then leverage our way into something in development, and then ban everybody."
Related Post
This multi-pronged approach includes publicly discrediting cheat developers by banning their players en masse or leaking evidence of their activities. "We can just make them look like fools," Koskinas states. The team also employs a calculated strategy of selective enforcement, allowing some cheating to persist to slow down the development of more sophisticated cheats. "To keep cheating dumb, we ban slower," Koskinas explains.
Vanguard also utilizes hardware fingerprinting to identify and ban repeat offenders. Furthermore, the team employs psychological tactics, publicly deriding cheaters as "brainless pathogens" with an "inability to get good at this video game."
The cheaters themselves fall into two broad categories: those using easily detectable "download-a-ban" cheats and those employing more advanced, expensive "premium" cheats. These premium cheats often involve specialized hardware like high-speed PCI Express cards for direct memory access (DMA) attacks, allowing cheaters to see through walls and gain other unfair advantages. More sophisticated versions use HDMI fusers to overlay cheat information directly onto the player’s screen. Even advanced techniques like screen reader cheats, which use a second computer to control the player’s aim, are being countered by Riot’s team.
Koskinas acknowledges the potential for AI to revolutionize cheating, particularly in analyzing visual information from the game screen. However, Riot remains committed to its kernel-level approach, believing it necessary to effectively combat the most advanced cheat techniques. Koskinas emphasizes the importance of transparency, stating, "The best thing we can do in asking for that level of access is being as transparent about the opacity as we can." Riot’s ongoing battle against cheaters is a testament to the constant arms race between game developers and those seeking to undermine fair play.
Leave a Comment