- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.ml
- privacyguides@lemmy.one
- privacy@lemmy.ml
- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.ml
- privacyguides@lemmy.one
- privacy@lemmy.ml
Summary:
The article discusses Riot Games’ requirement for players to install their Vanguard anti-cheat software, which runs at the kernel level, in order to play their games such as League of Legends and Valorant. The software aims to combat cheating by scanning for known vulnerabilities and blocking them, as well as monitoring for suspicious activity while the game is being played. However, the use of kernel-level software raises concerns about privacy and security, as it grants the company complete access to users’ devices.
The article highlights that Riot Games is owned by Tencent, a Chinese tech giant that has been involved in censorship and surveillance activities in China. This raises concerns that Vanguard could potentially be used for similar purposes, such as monitoring players’ activity and restricting free speech in-game.
Ultimately, the decision to install Vanguard rests with players, but the article urges caution and encourages players to consider the potential risks and implications before doing so.
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Can you run games like this in a virtual machine? Would that eliminate kernel level general invasiveness concerns because it’s a…virtual kernel I guess? Does that virtualization require too much overhead to run demanding games?
There’s ways in which a program can detect if it is running in a VM. If Riot made a kernel-level anti-cheat program, they’ll surelly also implement this.
They did implement this from my knowledge. I think SomeOrdinaryGamers made a video where he showcases hardening a VM to beat the detection.
I mean…that stupid university “anti cheat” rootkit browser called “lockdown” can detect if it’s in a virtual environment and say “this won’t run. Plz put me on bare metal so I can read all your secrets.”
I imagine this program wouldn’t find that hard to do either sadly.
Meanwhile counter strike players are wanting valve to install kernel level anti cheats because it works so well in valorant.
It’s because VAC kinda sucks. People will rather have a functioning anti-cheat with more access than play with cheaters.
Vanguard is being bypassed as well, but users have now a compromised system to the lowest level possible.
So that isn’t the solution, i would somewhat understand it if no one is able to cheat anymore, but as long as there are hacks available you can give up on kernel level anti-cheat.
I don’t even think the being able to cheat part is the problem. It’s their response time that is great. On the VERY rare occasions I’ve seen hackers in Valorant they were always banned either by the end of the match or within a few hours. Most games can’t say the same.
this
If something won’t run with core isolation enabled, it’s probably malware
Kernal level anti-cheat means I ain’t gonna play it
I don’t care where the company is based no game should be requiring kernal level access, that’s just opening the door for security concerns
*kernel
I’m wondering if there’s a way we can even know they’re installing it. Windows just gives that generic admin prompt, I imagine? Tells you nothing of what’s happening.
Well if you get asked for sudo, then that’s a risk.
It would probably show up in Autoruns. Maybe even with a background service in task manager.
Kernel level drivers would not be in auto run.
What, why not?
Ask Microsoft
Good cheat prevention needs to be part of the game’s fundamental design, not some virus as a band-aid.
Can you name one of those games that have no anticheat and also no cheaters?
While I do agree with you, some cheats manipulate the memory itself so you would need some elevated privilages to dectect them as the cheats themsevles run with these privileges
They can fuck all the way off.
Well, that’s the end of TFT for me.
It really confuses me why people would want to play a competitive video game that is balanced around profit. Riot openly admits to buffing and nerfing based on skin sales and champion releases.
Riot openly admits to buffing and nerfing based on skin sales
Really? Source? I’m intrigued.
Addiction, I suppose.
We totally won’t harvest your data.
Ignore the fact that we have political, state, and financial interest to do so, and that you would have no way of verifying or detecting if we did harvest your data, but you can trust us.
Just trust us.
It’s not only interests of the chinese government, they HAVE to oblige legally if they are asked to. So even if the company has the best intentions, the government overrules.
And don’t make that a chinese bad guy argument, as if western companies aren’t doing the same, they just don’t do that officially, which one is shadier is yours to decide.
All you can do as a company or anyone is to stop harvesting data and don’t plant blackboxes/backdoors in customers systems
Edward Snowden showed that the US is spying on their citicens but nobody seems to care. But when China is doing it, everybody seems to lose their mind.
I don’t get why they are so afraid of spyware from a country they don’t even live in, it’s the US that can prosecute you for anything they don’t like on your computer.
Aaaand there goes linux support
Linux was never supported
Riot games official statement was that they were okay with linux players and actively went out of their way to make sure they didn’t get banned unjustly. They didn’t support linux as a software platform, which is why wine was required, but they did support linux players.
so… they didn’t support Linux. Got it.
Who gives a shit, they’re 100% owned by Tencent
Plenty of people do
Anglification of blåhaj is blaahaj, not blahaj, btw
if we’re gonna randomly pedant on people it’s “anglicization”. not that anyone cares.
I think you were looking for anglicisation the other is an Americanisation
that’s a matter of dialect, both spellings are widely used and recognized as correct by english speakers the world over, versus “anglification” being entirely made up by one joker trying to flex how smart they are.
as an aside I really don’t understand the pissing contest over minor spelling variations between the two major dialects of English (a large part of which, a devoted pedant must note, is merely bastardizations of French words), what gets me is stuff that’s the same word for totally different things depending on where you are like chips, biscuit, thong, napkin, pants, etc.
Maybe you do, but remember that Tencent is an evil corporation sending all your data to the chinese government. Not something I wanna stand anywhere near
People that care about different things than you.
Difficult as it is to consider, I know.
This really saddens me. LoL is a game that will forever connect me to some of my best friends, I played hundreds if not thousands of hours, even through I have not played nearly as much over recent years. We even did go to public viewing of the world’s finals.
If they force this on us, then it will mean that my last game of lol was played months ago.
That’s gonna be an uninstall for me, Tencent.
o7 OpenSuse you will be missed. This has been a great blow to the Linux gaming community. Sad I cannot be a part of it after this change.
Just like that?
Are you the one that calls the surrender vote at the 15:00 mark? :|
C’mon, don’t let em have their way with you and the rest of the playerbase like that. This move is a gross breach of trust on their part.
–Fellow OpenSUSE (Tumbleweed) community member
I actually wish valve did something this catastrophically stupid when I was wasting 5 hours a day on fucking Dota. Would’ve made it so easy to quit.
Wait, are you saying you’re giving up Linux? Seems like you’re saying OpenSUSE will be missed. Really? For LoL???
People who play League are a different breed bro
Yeah. This comment section just looks like a bunch of people who have played league once half a decade ago. Easy to quit something they weren’t doing in the first place.
The Chinese government wants to install a root kit on your PC
If you meet someone playing these games then they are the dumbest people you have run into
2024 still on the red scare, for an american company nonetheless, lmao.
2024 still on the red scare, for an american company nonetheless, lmao.
To be fair, there is a small but real chance that we may be going to war with them someday in the future, over Taiwan.
Do you really want an adversary that can disable a large portion of your populations computers in one fell swoop?
If you meet someone playing these games then they are the dumbest people you have run into
Hello, nice to meet you. I am trying to get away from it, but it’s hard. Sunk cost fallacy and all that. BUT I am playing at lot less. Having to dual boot to play one damn game is gonna help too.
Or they dont give a fuck what the chinese government thinks about them
No, they might be ignorant of how bad this is though
It is at a level where you would write to your representatives to ban it. I assume you are ignorant of rootkits since you mentioned “what they think about you“ rather than “owning your pc”
You cannot make a paper that can have any text written onto, but not the one text you don’t like. The only way to do it is to spy on someone and check actively what is being written.
You cannot make a computer that can run any program written into, but not the one program you don’t like. The only way to do it is to spy on someone eather physically or via lower level spyware.
