Riot Games‘ kernel-level anti-cheat, Vanguard, has received an update that is allegedly altering system firmware to remove the ability of the user to access certain hardware associated with cheating.

Riot Games quoted one post discussing the anti-cheat, replying “congrats to the owners of a brand new $6k paperweight.” But how exactly does Vanguard’s new system make “paperweights” out of hardware?

  • Noxy@pawb.social
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    4 hours ago

    if I’m reading this right there’s no hardware damage at all, the “paperweight” comment just means they’ve successfully mitigated against a specific device, rendering it useless for this purpose, but it still works as intended against vulnerable games.

    Kind of a nothing burger honestly, if I’m understanding right. Scary that they have that much access tho, which is the real problem, since they’re leaving a whole bunch of other peoples’ front doors wide open

  • mrfriki@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    Why the fuck would anyone install kernel level back doors on their systems just baffles me.

  • inclementimmigrant@lemmy.worldOP
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    7 hours ago

    Just another reason for me to avoid these types of games. These systems are notorious of false positives and bricking a users system, cheating or not, is going away to far and why they should never be allowed that level of access.

    • iltoroargento@startrek.website
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      6 hours ago

      If they brick your system, is it a fair response to brick their CEO and company property? I feel like that’s the recourse here.