VALORANT Anti-Cheat Driver Explained

A post from Riot on Reddit chimes in on a discussion of anti-cheat measures in VALORANT, their new first-person shooter (thanks DSOGaming). This explains why they are loading a driver at boot and what it does and does not do. Here's word:
TL;DR Yes we run a driver at system startup, it doesn't scan anything (unless the game is running), it's designed to take up as few system resources as possible and it doesn't communicate to our servers. You can remove it at anytime.

Vanguard contains a driver component called vgk.sys (similar to other anti-cheat systems), it's the reason why a reboot is required after installing. Vanguard doesn't consider the computer trusted unless the Vanguard driver is loaded at system startup (this part is less common for anti-cheat systems).

This is good for stopping cheaters because a common way to bypass anti-cheat systems is to load cheats before the anti-cheat system starts and either modify system components to contain the cheat or to have the cheat tamper with the anti-cheat system as it loads. Running the driver at system startup time makes this significantly more difficult.

We've tried to be very careful with the security of the driver. We've had multiple external security research teams review it for flaws (we don't want to accidentally decrease the security of the computer like other anti-cheat drivers have done in the past). We're also following a least-privilege approach to the driver where the driver component does as little as possible preferring to let the non-driver component do the majority of work (also the non-driver component doesn't run unless the game is running).

The Vanguard driver does not collect or send any information about your computer back to us. Any cheat detection scans will be run by the non-driver component only when the game is running.

The Vanguard driver can be uninstalled at any time (it'll be "Riot Vanguard" in Add/Remove programs) and the driver component does not collect any information from your computer or communicate over the network at all.

We think this is an important tool in our fight against cheaters but the important part is that we're here so that players can have a good experience with Valorant and if our security tools do more harm than good we will remove them (and try something else). For now we think a run-at-boot time driver is the right choice.
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Re: VALORANT Anti-Cheat Driver Explained
Apr 13, 2020, 15:50
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Re: VALORANT Anti-Cheat Driver Explained Apr 13, 2020, 15:50
Apr 13, 2020, 15:50
 
The Half Elf wrote on Apr 13, 2020, 15:23:
So question... if you had to install a system driver one time that provided solid anti-cheat protection in all your games would you do it?

Nope. I learned from Starforce's bullshit years ago.
"Just take a look around you, what do you see? Pain, suffering, and misery." -Black Sabbath, Killing Yourself to Live.

“Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains” -Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Purveyor of cute, fuzzy, pink bunny slippers.
Avatar 21247
8.
 
Re: VALORANT Anti-Cheat Driver Explained
Apr 13, 2020, 15:23
8.
Re: VALORANT Anti-Cheat Driver Explained Apr 13, 2020, 15:23
Apr 13, 2020, 15:23
 
So question... if you had to install a system driver one time that provided solid anti-cheat protection in all your games would you do it? GTA Online, COD Games, any sort of competitive gaming etc? Go ahead and install it. Just stay out of my browser history.
Avatar 12670
7.
 
Re: VALORANT Anti-Cheat Driver Explained
Apr 13, 2020, 15:19
7.
Re: VALORANT Anti-Cheat Driver Explained Apr 13, 2020, 15:19
Apr 13, 2020, 15:19
 
On reddit, the post was nuked and moved because

1. China has a large controlling ownership of reddit
2. Tencent is Chinese

Reddit really loves to allow censorship and for a few top dogs to make the call on what the rest of the people get to read about, or see.

I really hope that site takes a monumental loss in the near future. I want it to take a nosedive of Digg proportions.

I am in no way ever allowing a chinese-owned game root level access to my PC. F right off with that BS.
6.
 
Re: VALORANT Anti-Cheat Driver Explained
Apr 13, 2020, 15:11
6.
Re: VALORANT Anti-Cheat Driver Explained Apr 13, 2020, 15:11
Apr 13, 2020, 15:11
 
Yeah, i'm sooo gonna install some chinese boot spyware, lol
5.
 
Re: VALORANT Anti-Cheat Driver Explained
Apr 13, 2020, 12:33
RaZ0r!
 
5.
Re: VALORANT Anti-Cheat Driver Explained Apr 13, 2020, 12:33
Apr 13, 2020, 12:33
 RaZ0r!
 
Looks can be deceiving. I wasn't that impressed with it either until I played it. Now I think its not impossible it could replace CS as one of the best shooters of all time, but it's still the honeymoon phase.
I pwnz j00!
Avatar 8127
4.
 
Re: VALORANT Anti-Cheat Driver Explained
Apr 13, 2020, 10:24
4.
Re: VALORANT Anti-Cheat Driver Explained Apr 13, 2020, 10:24
Apr 13, 2020, 10:24
 
I had no interest in this game previously.

This just makes sure I will never even remotely consider it.
"Just take a look around you, what do you see? Pain, suffering, and misery." -Black Sabbath, Killing Yourself to Live.

“Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains” -Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Purveyor of cute, fuzzy, pink bunny slippers.
Avatar 21247
3.
 
Re: VALORANT Anti-Cheat Driver Explained
Apr 13, 2020, 10:01
3.
Re: VALORANT Anti-Cheat Driver Explained Apr 13, 2020, 10:01
Apr 13, 2020, 10:01
 
The game doesn't look good enough for hackers to bother with it for more than about 2-3 months ...
Avatar 58495
2.
 
Re: VALORANT Anti-Cheat Driver Explained
Apr 13, 2020, 09:58
2.
Re: VALORANT Anti-Cheat Driver Explained Apr 13, 2020, 09:58
Apr 13, 2020, 09:58
 
RedEye9 wrote on Apr 13, 2020, 09:46:
Imagine a special windows boot gaming mode that only allows pre- approved apps.
Don't give M$ more bad ideas.
1.
 
Re: VALORANT Anti-Cheat Driver Explained
Apr 13, 2020, 09:46
1.
Re: VALORANT Anti-Cheat Driver Explained Apr 13, 2020, 09:46
Apr 13, 2020, 09:46
 
Imagine a special windows boot gaming mode that only allows pre- approved apps.
Avatar 58135
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