I would like to know if it is possible that one day Blizzard will use an anti-cheat system that utilizes a kernel driver.
Preferably something similar to Valorants Vanguard, where system integrity must be guaranteed throughout the entire runtime from startup of the machine in order to play the game.
I know that such protection mechanisms can also be circumvented, for example by using the system management mode or other clever methods, which I won’t even mention here.
However, I believe that most cheaters can be permanently locked out by using a more intrusive anti-cheat that operates in kernel mode.
Simply because the development of such cheats is too complex and too expensive to sell to the masses.
If they would also do some extensive hardware fingerprinting and compare serial numbers or similar information of installed products, I think this would be a very promising strategy to fight cheaters in the long run.
It is often criticized that you would install something like a trojan on your computer.
I strongly disagree with this point because Overwatch, which operates completely in user mode, would already be able to spy on user data and send it to other servers. Such a thing would attract attention, and companies using such spy practices would suffer invaluable damage to their reputation.
No matter what mode the anticheat uses, it will never be used for illegal spying.
So the last question to be asked is whether it is worth opening a potentially major security hole on the computer to lock out most cheaters.
Considering all the other drivers that are around, my answer is definitely Yes!
I believe that game publishers could maintain their drivers much better than other companies.
What do you think?
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I think giving up too many freedoms for security will make me neither free nor secure.
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Most games are full of bugs and publishers have a habit of moving on to the next thing when profits start going down. Giving them kernel access seems unwise.
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To be honest i will put in OW
ANTI-CHEAT KERNEL DRIVER and EASY-ANTI-CHEAT “epic games thing”. Both togheter OW sadly is one of the games more hacked =/
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No just no. I don’t need or want Blizzard to put anything on my system at the Kernel level. Warden is more than enough.
Which is one of the reasons I refuse to play any Epic games.
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Funny how Valorant still has cheats after all that.
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They probably have more cheats than they would have if they had not talked about their anti-cheat so much. Now people are hacking it to make a point lol.
Do you mean the stuff that gets people to not buy a game as it’s AC gets immediatly labeled with the “SPYWARE!” Sticker?
Seriously… I remember people warning from getting Valorant BECAUSE of Vanguard’s Kernel access.
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Yeah no.
I don’t care what company we’re talking about giving kernel access for an anti cheat is a security risk. And even then there are still cheats in valorant. It’s not worth giving that kind of access to remove maybe a few hackers
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your rank reflects your brain cells
^^ this.
Kernel access should not be given to a video game. Yes there are programs ( OS) and drivers that need and deserve that access but video games are not on that list.
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if it runs while the game is closed, then its insta delete, im not letting that in my PC…
this is gaming comapnies we are talking about, they added gambling mechanics to take advantage of vulnerable people, they pay no taxes and no amount of money is enough for them… and to give those people control over my PC… thats insane.
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Valorant was broken in hours, Valves kernel anti cheat got broken in 15 min.
Listen kids, Kernel anti cheats do nothing absolutely nothing to prevent cheating and no evidence as of late have any proof of it either. Until such evidence is provided i care more about not sending everything i own on my PC to the Chinese government every time i use my pc.
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That’s not really my concern, the issue is that giving kernel level access to a video game (which people are well known to hack as much as they can) company opens up the very large possibility of a Kernel level attack via a hacker by exploiting the access that Valorant’s anti cheat has.
This is my concern with Kernel level access being given out willy nilly to random scrubs like Epic games.
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I am aware that the driver used to ensure the integrity of the system at runtime is an attack vector.
It should be mentioned, however, that this part of the game is encapsulated and bugs in the game do not pose a greater risk than any other software running in user mode.
And then there is the question of how much you trust Realtek, Nvidia, Logitech or other drivers who may be even more poorly maintained.
In my opinion, it is one of the few promising concepts when it comes to fighting cheaters.
Way more than I trust Epic games, the companies that you listed have been writing Kernel access drivers for decades and decades and been highly successful with keeping hackers out of the kernel. Epic is most known for video games which have a huge number of cheaters in them. Much like I would not want Blizzard’s warden running at the Kernel Level I don’t want Epic (or any other game company) to have kernel access to my OS.
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As soon as overwatch gets that its uninstall for me, not gonna have crap running in the background actively hindering other programs and killing performance.
Overwatch agents is what we need. Not an anti-cheat, that gets bypassed literally day 0 anyway.
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There is absolutely no reason to assume Valorants anti-cheat is better than that of Overwatch. Quite the opposite in fact.
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Except that there is more cheaters and cheaters are more common and it was bypassed (and continues to be easily bypassed with impunity) since day 1 of beta.
Worse or better is immaterial, the fact that they touted their exceptional anti-cheat as a selling point for the game then failed to deliver on anything but a giant hole for hackers to walk into your Kernel is the issue.
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Me neither. Blizzard’s anticheat system is so complicated because it runs in user mode. And unfortunately this is the wrong concept, in my opinion.
I think it is great that there are so many consistent opinions on the subject.
Now I still wonder how you are going to guarantee the integrity of the computer system without using a kernel driver.
If you cannot ensure the integrity of the system, the anticheat system is only good until the cheat developers have removed all “traps”.
This usually never takes more than a week and does not harm this million dollar business at all.
Are there any suggestions?