Latest news with #anti-cheat
TechCrunch
11-08-2025
- TechCrunch
Electronic Arts blocks more than 300,000 attempts to cheat after launching Battlefield 6 beta
Games giant Electronic Arts launched an open beta over the weekend for its upcoming first-person shooter Battlefield 6 and — almost immediately — the game was swamped with cheaters. Soon after the game's launch, countless players complained online about encountering cheaters. In response, a member of Electronic Arts' anti-cheat team, who goes by AC, wrote in an official forum that the company saw players report 104,000 'instances of potential cheaters' over the first two days of the game's being online, and that it stopped 330,000 'attempts to cheat or tamper with anti-cheat controls.' Like many videogames today, such as Valorant, Electronic Arts uses a kernel-level anti-cheat system called Javelin, which means the system has the highest possible privileges on the computer. This allows it to monitor everything that happens on the machine with the goal of catching cheats, which are often running in the background and disguised as some other program. Contact Us Do you develop cheats, hack video games, or work in anti-cheat? We'd love to hear from you. From a non-work device and network, you can contact Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai securely on Signal at +1 917 257 1382, or via Telegram and Keybase @lorenzofb, or Do you develop cheats, hack video games, or work in anti-cheat? We'd love to hear from you. From a non-work device and network, you can contact Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai securely on Signal at +1 917 257 1382, or via Telegram and Keybase @lorenzofb, or email . In their post, AC admitted that this system is not a guarantee that there will be no cheaters. AC also referred to the fact that the game enforces Secure Boot, a Windows hardware-based security feature. 'On Secure Boot, I want to be clear that Secure Boot is not, and was not intended to be a silver bullet,' AC wrote. 'Secure Boot is how you're helping us build up our arsenal. It's another barrier that helps us make it harder for cheat developers to create cheat programs, and makes it easier for us to detect it when they do.' 'Anti-Cheat isn't one and done, it's an ever evolving battlefield, and what has worked for us previously or in different games doesn't always work in all of them,' AC added. An Electronic Arts spokesperson told TechCrunch that the company has no updated information on the numbers of players who were banned. Techcrunch event Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital, Elad Gil — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $600+ before prices rise. Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise. San Francisco | REGISTER NOW Cheaters or game hackers are a problem for every online video game. In recent times, companies like Riot Games, makers of Valorant, and Activision, the makers of the Call of Duty series, among others, have launched kernel-level anti-cheat systems. Philippe Koskinas, the director and head of anti-cheat for Riot Games, told TechCrunch earlier this year, there are several ways in which his anti-cheat system goes after cheaters, as well as cheat makers and sellers. Those include banning cheaters, taking advantage of Windows' own security features to limit where cheats can run, fingerprinting cheaters' hardware so they can't just create a new fresh account to cheat with, and even infiltrating cheat communities on Discord or Telegram.
Yahoo
11-08-2025
- Yahoo
Battlefield 6's anti-cheat system has already blocked over 330,000 bad apples, but with more flooding the FPS' Open Beta, EA says it "was not intended to be a silver bullet"
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The Battlefield 6 Open Beta has the hereditary FPS curse: cheaters ahoy! But EA's hard at work disposing of the bad apples and it's acknowledged it has a long way to go before it's fully weeded out the rot. The update comes via a forum update centred around Battlefield 6's Secure Boot, a mandatory anti-cheat measure that'll block entry into the shooter's gates if disabled or if it detects that your PC is running with "vulnerable drivers enabled." With reports about rampant cheating in the upcoming game, EA has said "Secure Boot is not, and was not intended to be a silver bullet." Instead, Secure Boot and the anti-cheat system the Battlefield folks call Javelin is in a constant tug of war with cheaters. "Secure Boot is how you're helping us build up our arsenal," the update continues. "It's another barrier that helps us make it harder for cheat developers to create cheat programs, and makes it easier for us to detect it when they do." EA claims its system "has prevented 330,000 attempts to cheat or tamper with anti-cheat controls," and players have reported over 100,000 instances of potential cheaters to the Battlefield Studios netwatch. "Anti-Cheat isn't one and done, it's an ever evolving battlefield, and what has worked for us previously or in different games doesn't always work in all of them." Even with all the aimbots and wallhacks floating about various matches, Battlefield 6's beta still managed to level its predecessors and reached the most concurrent Steam users in series history, tripling Battlefield 2042's record in mere hours. "CoD won't be lazy anymore": Ex Blizzard boss predicts a beating for Call of Duty at the hands of Battlefield 6, says Activision's FPS "has gone downhill for years"
The Verge
06-08-2025
- The Verge
Call of Duty's PC anti-cheat will require Secure Boot on Windows
To better protect against cheaters, Activision says that Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 players on PC will need to use hardware with Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 and have Windows' Secure Boot feature turned on when the game is available later this year. Ahead of that, Activision is doing a 'phased rollout' of the features alongside the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's fifth season on Thursday. At least for this season, it won't be 'enforcing against or requiring the use of either setting.' While anti-cheat systems and other security measures can go a long way toward blocking cheaters in games, the tools have come under scrutiny for potentially slowing down gamers' systems or for requiring users to turn on features they don't want to use. As Activision even admits in today's blog post, sometimes, they still aren't enough to fully block cheaters. Activision argues that 'these hardware-level protections are a key part of our anti-cheat efforts, and we're asking all players to get compliant now,' Activision says. 'This upcoming update will let us test our implementation of both features and gives you time to enable these settings.' Regarding performance, 'TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot will not impact in-game quality,' Activision says. 'These features perform checks during system and game startup but remain inactive while you play.' Activision is also encouraging users to turn on two-factor authentication. While two-factor authentication isn't required to play the game right now, it 'may become a requirement for all users in the future.' Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Jay Peters Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Entertainment Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Gaming Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All News Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All PC Gaming
