The Billion-Dollar Cheat Economy Meets Its Match

Picture this: You’re grinding in Valorant, sweat dripping, heart pounding… then BAM – some punk headshots you through three walls. Welcome to the underground cheat economy, where hackers make BANK selling unfair advantages. But Riot Games? They’re FIGHTING BACK with nuclear-grade anti-cheat tech.

“I was put on this earth for one singular purpose: banning cheaters from online games.”

Phillip Koskinas, Riot’s “Anti-Cheat Artisan”

Vanguard: The Digital Bouncer That NEVER Sleeps

Riot’s secret weapon? Vanguard – a kernel-level anti-cheat system that’s like having a CIA operative living in your PC. This bad boy enforces:

• Windows Secure Boot verification
• Trusted Platform Module checks
• Real-time kernel memory monitoring

The results? Less than 1% of ranked Valorant matches contain cheaters globally. That’s like catching 99 out of 100 pickpockets in Times Square.

Psychological Warfare 101: How Riot Plays 4D Chess

Koskinas’ team doesn’t just ban cheaters – they DESTROY their reputation. Their tactics include:

• Undercover ops: Agents infiltrate cheat Discord channels for YEARS
• Public shaming: Leaking screenshots of their surveillance
• Hardware fingerprinting: Making banned machines STAY banned

“We’ll explain anti-cheat techniques to cheat devs to gain trust… then BAN THEIR ENTIRE USERBASE.”

Koskinas on their honey pot strategy

The Cheat Arms Race: From $5 Scripts to AI-Powered Aimbots

Today’s cheats look like something from a spy movie:

• DMA attacks: PCIe cards that read game memory to a second PC
• HDMI fusers: Overlaying wallhacks directly on your main screen
• AI aimbots: Machine learning that mimics human mouse movements

But here’s the kicker – Koskinas says the most advanced cheats often aren’t worth it: “Once you humanize it enough to be undetectable, you’re barely cheating at all.”

Why Kernel Access is NON-NEGOTIABLE

Despite privacy concerns, Riot won’t back down from kernel-level access. Why? Because cheaters would immediately exploit any weakness. As Koskinas puts it: “We’re not telling you what’s under the hood, but we’ll tell you almost anything else.”

The bottom line? In the eternal cat-and-mouse game of cheating, Riot’s cat just grew CLAWS.