Riot Games is incentivizing hackers with rewards of up to $100,000 to uncover flaws in Valorant's contentious anti-cheat system.

The closed beta launch of the tactical shooter, Valorant, introduced a new anti-cheat mechanism known as Vanguard.

This month, concerns were voiced by players regarding the safety and privacy implications of Vanguard, as it operates more intrusively than traditional anti-cheat programs.

When players install Valorant, Vanguard is automatically set up on their systems and runs consistently with elevated permissions (the driver operates in kernel-mode rather than user-mode).

Riot has not disclosed the specific workings of Vanguard but shared insights in a blog post: "Running anti-cheat software solely in user-mode would limit its effectiveness against cheats that operate at higher privilege levels. For instance, sophisticated cheating groups have utilized direct memory access (DMA) techniques to capture and relay memory to a different machine for analysis."

Riot Games is taking significant measures to enhance the security of its popular game, Valorant.

The company has firmly stated that its Vanguard anti-cheat system is designed to respect player privacy, asserting that it does not gather or utilize any personal data beyond what is necessary, similar to its League of Legends anti-cheat protocols.

The Vanguard driver operates at the kernel level, allowing it to verify the integrity of the system and ensure that the game client remains unaltered. Riot emphasized, "We do not wish to know more about you or your device than is essential for maintaining the integrity of the game."

To further bolster this initiative, Riot has introduced a substantial bounty program aimed at encouraging hackers to report vulnerabilities in Vanguard.

They have outlined specific rewards on HackerOne, a platform dedicated to connecting companies with security researchers. The highest potential payout reaches an impressive $100,000, particularly for reports that reveal code execution vulnerabilities at the kernel level tied to network attacks without user involvement.

Riot stated, "In our commitment to player security, we are presenting special bounties that can go up to $100,000 for high-quality submissions that illustrate practical exploits utilizing the Vanguard kernel driver."

The company concluded by inviting ethical hackers to assist in safeguarding player information, affirming, "If you can help us identify new security threats responsibly, we greatly appreciate it and want to recognize your efforts."

Riot Games has been actively engaging with ethical hackers through HackerOne for several years,

running a bug bounty initiative that has awarded nearly $2 million in rewards over the past six years.

Recently, however, the company has introduced a new incentive structure specifically aimed at uncovering vulnerabilities in its anti-cheat system, Vanguard.

This strategic move appears to be a response to concerns from the PC gaming community regarding the safeguarding of user data while ensuring the effectiveness of anti-cheat measures.

In a recent tweet, Paul Chamberlain expressed the challenges faced, noting the necessity of banning cheaters early in the game's lifecycle,

indicating a readiness to tackle these issues head-on.

Cheating remains a critical challenge in the realm of competitive gaming,

and players of Valorant are anxious to see how the game will manage potential hacking threats as it approaches its open beta phase.

Riot must find a balance between maintaining a robust anti-cheat system and avoiding overly intrusive measures that might alienate players.

The company has urged players to continue holding them accountable for preserving the integrity of gameplay while respecting user privacy.

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