No more WallHack: Kaspersky presents new cloud-based solution to counter cheating in eSports

Kaspersky has taken the first step in protecting fair play in eSports: the company introduced a beta version of its new solution Kaspersky Anti-Cheat to help tournament organizers combat in-game cheating. With this new cloud-based offering, Kaspersky provides real-time cheat detection and shares automated reports with the customer who can then make a disciplinary decision on the rule-breaker. The announcement and presentation of the solution took place at The StarLadder Berlin Major 2019 on September 7, 2019.

Online gamers today are often faced with cheating in games. Only 12% of them have never had their multiplayer gaming experience spoilt by unfair actions of other players, according to the latest Irdeto Global Gaming Survey, while one in three gamers have actually confessed to cheating.

Rule-breakers have the potential to put off fair or professional players from participating in competitions, impacting relationships within the gaming community. As well as this, cheating can affect the popularity and reputation of a tournament, and eventually reduce the revenue or number of perspective partnerships for the organizers.

To minimize the possibility of unfair behavior in online eSports competitions, Kaspersky has launched its Anti-Cheat system, which can be easily integrated through the API of the eSports platform, rolled out to players and used to ensure fair play during the online stages of a tournament when it’s especially difficult to monitor cheating.

With this solution in place, to participate in an online competition a player needs to install the Anti-Cheat client distributed by the platform. After installation on the player’s computer, the game process info is collected, sent to the Kaspersky Anti-Cheat cloud and analyzed for suspicious events. At the same time, the tournament referee will receive direct real-time cheat reports via a web interface. Therefore, Kaspersky Anti-Cheat solution provides technical evidence of cheating without taking any actions upon the player, but leaving the final decision to the referee and tournament organizers.

Importantly, while ensuring cheat detection, Kaspersky Anti-Cheat puts the user experience first and does not affect the game process or overload traffic.

“Fair play is highly important to gamers who strive to show their class and skill. When games like CS:GO, PUBG or DOTA 2 become overloaded with cheaters, honest gamers will either stop playing or even give up the game for good. Therefore our solution will provide tournament organizers with an opportunity to maintain a stable balance in the gaming community and monitor the progress of their competitions. With the introduction of Kaspersky Anti-Cheat, our company brings over 20 years of relevant experience in fighting malware and cybercrime, to a new territory. But we do not intend to rest on our laurels: this year will also see the launch of Kaspersky Anti-Cheat for Multiplayer online games”, claimed Anton Selikhov, Product Owner Kaspersky Anti-Cheat.

At the event, Kaspersky also announced its first commercial deal with StarLadder. As part of this deal, Kaspersky provides StarLadder with its services to supply the platform with an opportunity to organize fair and monitored tournaments, where gamers and audiences can be assured of fair gameplay.

Alexander Chegrinez, Chief Business Development Officer at StarLadder: “Many players may cheat to earn real money from prize places or to qualify for tournaments. This growing tendency can undermine confidence in the eSports industry and decrease the popularity of online tournaments. Kaspersky Anti-Cheat solution allows us to use the company's great experience with accumulated technologies and knowledge, in the gaming field. We will test this new solution at our tournaments to check how often players resort to dishonest behavior. We are confident that this new solution will bring more players to the StarLadder platform and facilitate a healthier gaming community.”