Riot Games, a leader in the gaming industry, is intensifying its efforts to combat video game cheating with innovative anti-cheat technology. The company’s kernel-level anti-cheat system, Vanguard, is actively enforcing some of the key security features of Windows. It protects crucial features such as Trusted Platform Module and Secure Boot. The now common practice has become essential to keeping the playing field level in widely played games such as League of Legends and Valorant.
As of the beginning of 2025, Riot Games has made significant strides to stop cheating in Valorant’s ranked matches. They’ve been able to keep the worldwide rate of high-stakes exam cheating below 1%. This incredible figure is a testament to their success with long-term approaches and proven technologies and strategies.
The Mechanics of Anti-Cheat Technology
Riot Games uses Vanguard, one of the most powerful kernel-level anti-cheat systems on the market. This technology provides unprecedented penetration into a player’s computer. Firstly, it goes a long way toward detecting and preventing covert cheating practices that would not have been otherwise caught. Koskinas emphasizes the importance of this access:
“Basically, all the security features that Microsoft and hardware manufacturers have leveraged to protect the operating system, we use or enforce.” – Koskinas
Vanguard’s deep integration with Windows security features continues to enable Riot to deliver a strong and competitive gaming environment. By implementing and upholding these compliance safeguards, the platform can win the arms race against cheat developers’ tactics.
Koskinas and his team are not just in the business of detection. They’re trying to better understand the evolving landscape of cheat development. They even employ sock puppet identities to penetrate cheater communities and deceive cheat developers. By investing in this strategy, they are better able to collect intelligence on emerging threats. This new reconnaissance arm identifies and catalogs emerging vulnerabilities or threats and formulates plans to counteract or prepare for them.
Cheat developers often attempt to evade detection by selling their products as exclusive or “premium” cheats to a select clientele. These cheats can command prices in the thousands of dollars, but Koskinas and his team remain vigilant:
“If we hit every player every time, they will just change cheats until they find the one that isn’t detected.” – Koskinas
This relentless development versus cheater game of whack-a-mole requires a forward thinking defensive posture from Riot Games.
Community Engagement and Public Trolling
Public engagement is a major factor in Riot Games’ strategy to deter cheaters. Koskinas explains about how his team employs humor and outrageous declarations to embarrass anyone who would try to game the system. They describe cheaters as “a mindless invader.” This example action serves to not only demoralize those users but fosters a community that promotes the ideals of fair play.
“We can just make them look like fools.” – Koskinas
Riot Games fights back against these cheat developers by banning their players and releasing their tricks through leaked screenshots. This tactic is even worse, as it directly works to destroy the credibility of cheat providers. Simultaneously, it sends a powerful message that Riot’s commitment to fair play is unyielding.
Transparency is the other major cornerstone of Riot’s anti-cheat strategy. Though they cannot disclose every detail about their detection methods, they strive to keep players informed about their efforts:
“The best thing I feel like we can do in asking for that level of access and being around like that, is being as transparent about the opacity as we can.” – Koskinas
Riot encourages frank and honest discourse with the gaming public. With this in mind, this approach fosters user trust and promotes a level playing field.
The Future and Concerns Over AI Technology
Like many things, as technology progresses, so does the field of cheating. Koskinas indicates his worries about how artificial intelligence could be used to do screen classification the wrong way. He is concerned that AI technology might be able to take human inputs and repeat them in order to develop more advanced cheats.
“You have to humanize [the cheat] to a degree where the advantage is imperceptible from what a human can do.” – Koskinas
This evolution will require that Riot stick to its promise of a kernel-level approach for Valorant’s anti-cheat engine. Despite the challenges posed by AI technologies, Riot is determined to adapt its methodologies and stay ahead of new threats.
More than a cool story about Riot Games’ efforts against continuing cheating, their ongoing commitment to promoting integrity in competitive gaming is worth emulating. It’s the difference between 10% of ranked Valorant games having problems with cheats and less than 1%. It’s no surprise that the strategies they’re using and aggressively implementing are clearly effective! As Koskinas notes, there remains much work to be done:
“A lot of cheaters, if you think about it, they’re kind of young.” – Koskinas
Understanding what’s prompting people to cheat, and educating and engaging our communities in solving this problem together, may be the most promising way forward.