Riot Games has greatly increased the stakes in the fight against video game hackers with its strict anti-cheat system Vanguard. This kernel-level anti-cheat system that the popular games League of Legends and Valorant run on. It leverages important Windows security features, including the Trusted Platform Module and Secure Boot, to provide deeper security. The company’s strong dedication to transparency and innovation with anti-cheat makes their new standard a top-tier, gold standard in the gaming industry.
The challenge of combatting cheaters has only grown more complicated as technology has advanced. Riot Games has taken a pretty aggressive stance on this, using sock puppet accounts to integrate themselves into cheat developer circles. This approach greatly helps the company in learning how cheats work from the inside and thus create better countermeasures. Koskinas is the anti-cheat team lead at Riot Games, which makes Valorant. He stresses the need to catch cheaters and figure out why they are cheating.
Vanguard’s Cutting-Edge Technology
Vanguard has quickly become one of the most visible kernel-level anti-cheat systems in the industry. Its deep access to a gamer’s computer, as outlined above, is what makes its detection of cheats so reliable. Koskinas explains that Vanguard uses “specially implemented, oh-so universally enforced” security features from Microsoft and PC Original Equipment Manufacturers. He notes:
“Basically, all the security features that Microsoft and hardware manufacturers have leveraged to protect the operating system, we use or enforce.” – Koskinas
This sophisticated technology has yielded impressive results. Fast forward to early 2025 and less than 1% of ranked games cheaters in Valorant ranked matches worldwide. Vanguard’s effectiveness is a clear indicator of Riot’s desire to uphold a fun, fair gaming experience.
The fight is far from over. Koskinas worries about the booming artificial intelligence industry when it comes to AI-assisted cheat development. He is concerned that AI might be deployed for screen classification, helping cheaters produce more human-resembling inputs. He states:
“If we hit every player every time, they will just change cheats until they find the one that isn’t detected.” – Koskinas
Riot Games is keeping an eye on these new trends and will continue to adapt its anti-cheat methods to prevent these new threats.
The Strategy Behind Infiltration
Riot’s anti-cheat team uses a special reconnaissance arm whose job it is to acquire and document threats from the cheat development community. As a result, by actively operating with sock puppet identities, they absorb insider knowledge about leading cheat operations and trends. This method gives them the ability to quickly react to tactics cheaters test out on the field.
Some cheat developers attempt to evade detection by marketing their products as “premium” cheats, limiting their customer base to maintain exclusivity. These premium cheats are worth thousands of dollars. Sometimes they’re marketed into the market as exclusive, high-end solutions for the few who want to get that unfair advantage. Koskinas mentions:
“You have to humanize [the cheat] to a degree where the advantage is imperceptible from what a human can do.” – Koskinas
Despite these challenges, Koskinas and his team find ways to publicly discredit cheat developers by banning all their players or leaking screenshots of their cheats. This move doesn’t just delegitimize the intentions of cheat makers, but it acts as a threat to would-be cheaters.
Koskinas thinks that shaming cheaters is another good tactic. He states:
“We can just make them look like fools.” – Koskinas
This blend of infiltration, public shaming, and technological development is a powerful approach to fighting cheaters in gaming.
Transparency and Future Directions
Riot Games is really focused on being transparent with players when it comes to their anti-cheat operations. Koskinas emphasizes the importance of building trust with players while maintaining some level of operational secrecy:
“The best thing I feel like we can do in asking for that level of access and being around like that, is being as transparent about the opacity as we can.” – Koskinas
Riot Games does not disclose certain technical aspects of Vanguard. At the company’s heart is a commitment to disseminating its core principles and methodologies beyond their client projects. This new direction moves the needle toward player trust in the quality of the gaming experience.
Riot says it has no intention of reversing course on its kernel-level anti-cheat engine for Valorant. Koskinas thinks this kind of access is necessary for really tackling cheaters, who get more and more sophisticated. He notes:
“And once you’re there, you’re not really cheating enough to make it worth it for most users.” – Koskinas
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