The Call of Duty RICOCHET Anti-Cheat team announced earlier this month that their newly updated system was capable of detecting "third-party hardware devices that alter the Call of Duty gameplay experience" - this makes reference to a plethora of gaming input modification devices including the Cronus Zen/Max, XIM Apex and FPS Boost Strike Pack. All readily available from direct stores, Amazon and various e-tailers. These hardware modules are hooked up to a gamepad or mouse plus keyboard combination, and allow the user to bypass the legitimate control input detection on the host hardware, be it a games console or PC. Stock scripts and macros can be utilized - for example - to boost in-game aim assist to unprecedented levels, mitigate weapon recoil, and add support for mouse and keyboard in otherwise non-compatible games. Anti-cheat software suites have been unable to detect the extra layer of code, since it runs on an external device - until now.

CoD's security team elaborates on their cheat spotter: "Since our previous progress report, TeamRICOCHET has developed and tested a detection for third-party hardware devices that alter the Call of Duty gameplay experience. These devices act as a passthrough for controllers on PC and console and, when used improperly or maliciously, can provide a player with the ability to gain an unfair gameplay advantage, such as reducing or eliminating recoil. Testing is complete: This detection is deployed globally on all platforms. Users across PC or console who are detected to be using third-party hardware devices to impact the Modern Warfare II or Warzone 2.0 gameplay experience will first see a warning about the improper use of these devices..."

As security and innovation collide, Denuvo by Irdeto today announces it has joined the exclusive PlayStation 5 Tools and Middleware program. Denuvo, the leader in video games protection, offers its Anti-Cheat solution through this program to publishers and developers whose games are available on PlayStation 5.

Denuvo is at the forefront of games security with over 2 billion unique game installs protected across all platforms, and over 1,000 games secured. Joining the PlayStation 5 Tools and Middleware program therefore fosters Denuvo's continued commitment to excellence and innovation in game security. It also supports Denuvo's goal of protecting the developers' investment, where approximately 70% of their revenue is earned in the first two weeks after the launch of a game.

Cheating in the online portions of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Warzone is a well-identified issue by now. It has led to a considerable fall in the number of players actually engaging in the crossplay mechanic between console and PC gamers, with the PC platform naturally being the one most open to cheating efforts. Besides heavy-handed bans already conducted by Infinity Ward, which saw some seventy thousand players being banned, the developer in a Twitter post clarified some more ways in which it will be tackling the cheating issue: with specific matchmaking between players suspected of cheating in online play, thus populating servers with those players and leaving non-suspect players to their - expectedly - cleaner gaming environment.

Of course, it might be difficult to completely populate servers or matches with cheating players, but that isn't the question; in fact, it might serve the effort better if those servers were left sparser, so as to further intensify cheaters' notion of what the consequences can be of their anti-competitive behavior.

UL Benchmarks de-listed several popular Huawei devices from its database over proof of cheating in its benchmarks. Over the month, it was found that several of Huawei's devices, such as P20 Pro, Nova 3, and Play; overclocked their SoCs while ignoring all power and thermal limits, to achieve high benchmark scores, when it detected that a popular benchmark such as 3DMark, was being run. To bust this, UL Benchmarks tested the three devices with "cloaked" benchmarks, or "private benchmarks" as they call it. These apps are identical in almost every way to 3DMark, but lack the identification or branding that lets Huawei devices know when to overclock themselves to cheat the test.

The results were startling. When the devices have no clue that a popular benchmark is being run (or if has no way of telling that 3DMark is being run), it chugs along at its "normal" speed, which is 35% to 36% lower. The rules that bind device manufacturers from advertising UL's 3DMark scores explicitly state that the device must not detect the app and optimize its hardware on the fly to ace the test. Huawei responded to UL by stating that it will unlock a new "performance mode" to users that lets them elevate their SoCs to the same high clocks for any application.

More than half (60%) of gamers have had their multiplayer gaming experience negatively impacted by other players cheating on multiple occasions, according to new research by Irdeto. The Irdeto Global Gaming Survey of 9,436 consumers also indicates that these online gamers will purchase less in-game content and even stop playing the game in question, if they feel that other players are gaining an unfair advantage through cheating. Cheating in these games often involves manipulating and distorting data or code to gain an advantage over others or bypass in-game transactions.

Of the consumers surveyed online across six different countries, including China, Germany, Japan, South Korea, UK and US, 77% of online gamers are likely to stop playing a multiplayer game online if they think other players are cheating and 48% of online gamers are likely to buy less in-game content as a result. This suggests a massive impact on the revenues of game publishers if they do not adequately protect multiplayer online games from cheating.

Intel held an event in Beijing last week to launch their new 8th Gen Intel Core mobile processors. As usual, PC and laptop manufacturers flocked to the venue to promote their latest gaming products. This time around, Dell single-handedly stole the spotlight. The company claimed that their gaming laptops were perfect for running multiple 'plugins' in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Ben Mansill from PC Authority was present during Dell's presentation, and this was what he had to say about Sally Zhang, the Account Director and assigned Dell spokesperson:

"She spoke of how Chinese gamers are the most innovative and dominant in the world by using 'plugins' to, for example, run faster than other players, or blow up ten cars at a time, and that these top gamers can really use 8th-Gen power to 'run more plugins to win more at Chicken Dinner', and that the top players run the most 'plugins' so that's where 8th-gen Dell power gives them the gamer's edge. Behind her a video proudly shows various cheats in PUBG in action (they really like the one with the massively oversized gun and show that a lot), with the new Dell gaming laptops shown every few seconds while Sally told us that gamers should buy a Dell because they're better at running many plugins. Wow."

With its upcoming "Fall Creators Update" for Windows 10, Microsoft is preparing to roll out its own game anti-cheating platform, under two new technologies, TruePlay and Game Monitor. TruePlay provides a "new set of tools to combat cheating within their PC games," according to Microsoft. This is similar to VAC (Valve Anti-Cheating). From the looks of it, the TruePlay API is limited to games built for the UWP (Universal Windows Platform), such as recent additions to the Forza franchise. Game Monitor is another side of this coin. When enabled, the operating system shares system information with games to weed out cheating tools such as aimbots. Enabling it could soon become a requirement of certain online multiplayer games.

Games with TruePlay run in a "protected" (read: sandboxed) process, which mitigates a class of common cheating tools, as the game's real PID is never exposed to other processes. A separate Windows process will be on constant lookout for behaviors and manipulations that are common in cheating scenarios. Data (read: telemetry) of this process will be shared with game developers after determining that cheating could have occurred. The "Fall Creators Update" for Windows 10 is likely to be released before December.

Watch Dogs 2 has recently made its debut, encountering both critical acclaim and inversely proportional sales - at least for now. The game features a living open world, achieving what the original promised but never delivered, with both single-player and multi-player modes being praised by their quality.

And when there is a semblance of multiplayer, there must also be an anti-cheating mechanism. Watch Dogs 2 makes use of EasyAntiCheat, which has, embedded in its TOS - and even on its features page - a field that claims "Client data analysis to identify anomalies in the game process runtime" is used to enforce it anti-cheat detection mechanisms. What it basically means is that EasyAntiCheat installs a driver in kernel mode and a service that monitors your systems' operating files (when Watch Dogs 2 is running). This mechanism is also running even when you're in single-player-only - and even offline - modes, meaning that you're not getting out of its crosshairs no matter how you are playing the game. The addition of file-integrity checks at the start of the game, so as to detect any changes to the games' files also precludes modding, with some injection-type modding also finding troubles in being able to access the game, due to it checking game memory and system memory as well. Popular applications such as Afterburner and OBS have their overlay and recording capabilities disabled, and Cheat Engine is also not working - though that just means EasyAntiCheat is doing its job.

Just like any good design implementing security by obscurity, hackers and cheaters will find a way to exploit the system in no time flat. In this instance, DICE said via Twitter that cheaters have "found a glitch that allows them to use the Engineer repair tool or the EOD Bot to garner tens of thousands of points in a match." A beautiful and satisfying cheat if ever there was one, really letting you get on the wrong side of your fellow player! However, there's this small problem, since developer DICE has now cottoned on to underhand tactics and is banning these sporting gamers en-masse. Isn't retribution wonderful?

Via Twitter, DICE reported, "This week we've banned hundreds of offending accounts and have stats-wiped accounts for exploiting (such as boosting)..." and they also ask for honest gamer's help in nailing the culprits, "To report players cheating or boosting send us a direct message to this Twitter with a screen shot of the Battle Log Report." There is also a problem with the Sony PS3 version of the game, which will be addressed with a patch, soon. This suggests that the bug is in the core program code, rather than a platform-specific implementation. Finally, one should always strive to behave honestly and ethically in life and it looks like in this instance it really pays off. Here's wishing all honest players an enjoyable time playing BF3, free from cheaters.

Over the last week, the enthusiast community witnessed high drama as some world-renowned overclockers were disqualified from the MSI Lords of Overclocking online competition for engaging in malpractice. Futuremark noticed that some validation entries from top scoring candidates originated from the same setup, confirmed from consistency in Futuremark product key and PCI devices. Top three position-holders at the LoOC competition admitted to using scores generated by a third person, AndreYang. Hiwa, eXtremetweaker.de, KJ and Skinnee were named as disqualified candidates.

What happened next could come as a surprise to some. Major overclocking communities banned these individuals, some permanently, with enthusiast charts aggregator HWBOT handing out a 1 year ban to each of them (although HWBOT wasn't involved in that competition), and XtremeSystems.org issuing lifetime bans. Even as some question the motives behind Andre sharing scores with four people at the same time, the candidates deny that Andre had any intention to profit from it, other than just helping.

Intel, at its Research@Intel Day in Santa Clara, CA, announced that it is working on an anti-cheat system for games. The idea is that Intel and the PC gaming industry would build technology into gaming rigs that could detect when common cheats - such as "aimbots" that handle targeting while the player just holds down the trigger - are used in an online gaming session, said Travis Schluessler, a researcher at Intel.

PCs equipped with this technology would notify a server that someone in the game is using a cheat, and then the game administrator could set a policy of kicking the cheat offline. Intel is still working out the details; don't expect to find this in a high-end gaming PC anytime soon.

A new firmware replacement for the TS-H943 xbox360 drive features:

• Defeats all current and some future Xbox Live detection attempts
• Boots ONLY Stealth Xtreme Xbox 360 backups
• Boots ONLY Stealth Xtreme Xbox 1 backups
• Boots all Xbox 360 originals
• Boots all Xbox 1 originals on Xbox 360

Use on Xbox Live at own risk!!

It appears that Microsoft has managed to find a way to recognize Xbox360 consoles with modified firmwares (both Hitachi-LG and Toshiba-Samsung drives) and start banning them from the LIVE network. Even people using the new firmwares with disc-jitter added get banned. As a result, consumers who try to login to LIVE with a modified console will get an error code (Status Code: Z: 8015 - 190D) when trying to connect to the service. These users will not have their account automatically banned from LIVE, but they will no longer be able to access the service from the modified Xbox 360(console unique ID serial gets banned, not the LIVE account).

Students have recently been busted for a brand new form of cheating: loading test answers on their iPod's and MP3 players. This new form of cheating extends all the way from simply putting information in a lyric file to "podcasts" of test answers. Two students have already been caught red handed, and so a school in Meridian, Idaho has banned MP3 players of any form being on a student during a test. These incidents have even triggered talk of a national ban. This is vastly in contrast to the move Duke University made in 2004 when they bought 1,650 iPod's so that their students could keep up with studies.