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Anti-cheat evolution in Windows 11

41 points by davikr

by super256

3 subcomments

Some thoughts
- secure kernel WILL get hijacked and be completely invisible to anti cheats. Which would be funny.
- Microsoft won't port back the attestation process to win 10 (although secure kernel exists there too), forcing all gamers, where the AC adopts this attestation, to install win11
- trying to lock out Linux for sure, which is a funny coincidence given that Valve is partnering with anti cheat developers (eg EAC and Battleye) to support Linux

by seba_dos1

3 subcomments

In other words - it's up to Microsoft to allow you to do certain things on your own PC, just like it's been on Android with Google for a while now, as if they don't the third parties will just refuse to provide their services to you.
(inb4 "but Microsoft only provides a report that's interpreted by others" - yes, but ultimately it's up to whether Microsoft chooses to sign the content of a report you want to produce)

by Animats

6 subcomments

The future of serious cheating is probably a second machine watching the video and playing the game.

by evgpbfhnr

0 subcomment

I don't get why a bad guy couldn't dump the current log / hash, then load a kernel module that'd just replay the same values whenever someone asks for it? Does the log have a challenge/nonce from the client that'd change the hash everytime it's obtained? (if the client loads their own kernel module they can check it's on the list, but the whole point is about not having to do that, right..)

by compsciphd

0 subcomment

I've said this before, but given how fast machines can boot these days, why not simply reboot into a secure boot attested environment with minimal things loading besides the game.
i.e. why not simply make it "XBox for the PC" and leverage both PC and XBox gaming together. There should be no difference to a developer of an "XBox for the PC" and XBox development besides XBox giving you an exact performance config. One codes the same, one has the same resources made available to them and so forth and then one doesn't need anti-cheat (i.e. I'm making an assumption that there's no real need for invasive anti-cheat on xbox / ps platforms).
If I was being conspiracy minded, I might argue that Microsoft doesn't do this, because if one simply reverted to a trusted/attested platform, it be easy for valve to provide the same on a steam deck. If one is booted into a trusted/attested mode on the steam deck, these games that eschew invasive anti-cheat due to trusting the platform could do the same on the steam deck if it provided such a mode. So by enabling invasive anti-cheat, they create a form of lock-in.