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How Riot Games Vanguard Anti-Cheat System Fights Video Game Cheating

Cheating in online games has evolved into a lucrative industry, prompting Riot Games to develop Vanguard, a kernel-level anti-cheat system. Vanguard leverages Windows security features, hardware fingerprinting, and undercover operations to detect and ban cheaters. Riot’s efforts have reduced cheating in Valorant’s competitive matches to less than 1%, combining advanced technology with psychological strategies to discredit cheat developers and protect fair play.

Published May 3, 2025 at 10:06 AM EDT in Cybersecurity

Cheating in video games has been a persistent challenge since the inception of gaming, but the rise of online competitive gaming has transformed cheating from a hobbyist activity into a sophisticated industry. Developers now face the challenge of combating cheats that provide unfair advantages to paying customers, threatening the integrity of competitive play.

Riot Games has responded to this threat with Vanguard, a kernel-level anti-cheat system that operates with the highest privileges on a player’s computer. Vanguard enforces critical Windows security features like Trusted Platform Module and Secure Boot, ensuring that the system hasn’t been tampered with and that hardware drivers are up to date to prevent cheat-enabling modifications.

Beyond technology, Riot’s anti-cheat team employs undercover operations by infiltrating cheat developer communities to gather intelligence and disrupt cheat development. They also use psychological tactics to publicly discredit cheat creators, reducing their influence and deterring cheating behavior.

Riot categorizes cheaters into two groups: the majority who use easily detectable, low-cost cheats for quick advantage, and a smaller group who purchase expensive, premium cheats that use external hardware like DMA cards or HDMI fusers to gain unfair insights into the game environment. Vanguard’s deep system access helps detect and ban these sophisticated cheats effectively.

The anti-cheat team also uses hardware fingerprinting to prevent repeat offenders from simply switching accounts or cheats, making it harder to continue cheating undetected. Riot’s approach balances strict enforcement with strategic tolerance to avoid pushing cheaters to develop undetectable tools.

Looking ahead, Riot is aware of emerging threats from AI-powered cheats that can mimic human behavior and automate cheating with high precision. Despite privacy concerns surrounding kernel-level anti-cheat software, Riot remains committed to this approach, emphasizing transparency about its operations to maintain player trust.

Riot’s success is evident: as of early 2025, less than 1% of Valorant’s ranked matches involve cheaters, showcasing the effectiveness of Vanguard and the anti-cheat team’s multifaceted strategy. This case exemplifies how combining advanced cybersecurity techniques with proactive community engagement can uphold fairness in competitive online gaming.

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