invlpg | technical blog
ACE, or better known as Anti-Cheat Expert is, as the name suggests, an anti-cheat made by the tech giant Tencent. In today’s digital age, the line between ensuring fair play in online gaming and safeguarding personal privacy is becoming increasingly blurred. That’s why I took a look into ACE and, to be honest, the findings didn’t completely shock me.
Now, why did I look into said anti-cheat, and why exactly should it become a public concern? As a gaming enthusiast, I really enjoyed the extraction shooter Escape From Tarkov; however, after the recent events, I was looking out for an alternative. Just shortly after the boycotting of Escape From Tarkov started, a game studio Morefun Studios announced the PC release of Arena Breakout: Infinite. Yet another extraction-type shooter. Luckily, I got a key for their closed beta quickly, after I had already spent time investigating their anti-cheat. That’s when I was motivated to write this blog post.
Gamers like them, security researchers find them interesting, and cheaters hate them. Recently, people started talking about anti-cheat more and more on social media, stating their concerns for privacy. This was led by a prime example called Vanguard made by Riot Games. The outcry started because Riot Games is Tencent owned, a chinese company and we all know that China loves your data. Turns out, they dumped fuel on the fire. Researchers who found out that Vanguard was taking screenshots of the game it was protecting appeared to believe it was capturing the whole screen with wreckless abandon.
