How Riot Games’ Vanguard is Winning the War Against Cheaters in 2025

How Riot Games’ Vanguard is Winning the War Against Cheaters in 2025 @NaijaTech.Com.Ng

Discover how Riot Games’ Vanguard anti-cheat system fights hackers in Valorant with kernel-level security, AI detection, and psychological tactics. Are cheaters doomed in 2025?

The Battle Against Cheating in Online Gaming: How Riot Games is Fighting Back  

Cheating in video games has been around for as long as gaming itself. What started as a hobby for tech-savvy players looking to exploit vulnerabilities has now turned into a full-blown industry, especially with the rise of professional esports. Today, cheat developers sell unfair advantages to players willing to pay creating a constant cat and mouse game between hackers and anti cheat teams.  

Game developers have had to step up their security measures, with many now deploying kernel level anti cheat systems software that operates with the highest privileges in a computer’s operating system. One of the most advanced examples is Riot Games’ Vanguard, used in popular titles like Valorant and League of Legends.  

How Vanguard Works: Forcing Cheats into the Open

Phillip Koskinas, Riot’s "anti-cheat artisan" (as he jokingly calls himself), leads the charge against cheaters. His team’s mission? To make cheating as difficult as possible.  

Vanguard leverages Windows’ built-in security features, such as:  

Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 

A hardware-based security check.  

Secure Boot Prevents unauthorized modifications to the system.  

Driver verification Ensures no malicious hardware drivers are running.  

By enforcing these protections, Vanguard creates a secure environment where cheats are easier to detect. But technology alone isn’t enough—Riot also employs psychological and investigative tactics.  

The Anti-Cheat Playbook: Infiltration, Deception, and Public Shaming

Koskinas’ team has a “reconnaissance arm” that infiltrates cheat developer communities using fake identities. They even pretend to be cheat experts to gain trust, gather intel, and then ban entire groups of cheaters at once.  

Some cheat makers try to stay under the radar by selling “premium” cheats expensive, exclusive tools that promise undetectability. Riot’s countermove? Publicly exposing them by leaking Discord chats or banning all their users at once.  

"We can just make them look like fools," Koskinas said.  

To discourage repeat offenders, Vanguard fingerprints cheaters’ hardware, making it harder for them to return with new accounts. The team also mocks cheaters online, calling them “brainless pathogens”—a playful jab at their lack of skill.  

The Cheater’s Arsenal: From Cheap Hacks to High-Tech Exploits  

Most cheaters fall into two categories:  

1. Rage Cheaters: These players use cheap, easily detectable hacks. Koskinas jokes that these are “download-a-ban” tools, as they lead to instant bans. Many are young gamers who enjoy the power trip but eventually grow out of it.  

2. Premium Cheaters : A smaller group uses sophisticated hardware-based cheats, such as:  

   DMA (Direct Memory Access) attacks Using PCIe cards to extract game data to a second PC.  

   

HDMI fusers Overlaying enemy locations on the main screen.  

   

Screen readers & AI aimbots Automatically targeting opponents with inhuman precision.  

While these methods are harder to detect, Riot claims to catch most of them—though the battle is never-ending.  

The Future of Cheating: AI and the Next Frontier

Koskinas warns that AI-powered cheats are already emerging. In Valorant, where characters have bright color schemes, simple algorithms can detect enemies and trigger actions automatically.  

Despite privacy concerns over kernel-level anti-cheat, Riot has no plans to change its approach. Instead, the company aims for transparency, publishing blogs and interviews to explain its methods.  

"We’re not telling you what’s under the hood, but we’ll tell you almost anything else," Koskinas said.  

Final Thoughts

The fight against cheating is a never-ending arms race. While Riot’s aggressive tactics have reduced cheating in Valorant to less than 1% of ranked matches, cheat developers keep evolving. For now, Vanguard remains one of the strongest defenses—but the war is far from over.  

What do you think about anti-cheat measures? Should game developers have kernel-level access to players’ PCs? Let us know in the comments!