This was originally asked by someone in the Reddit (yeah I know) Linux Gaming community. I thought it could be a relevant topic to be explored. The discussion is about how gaming developers could be potentially masking their profit on top of data mining using anticheat as excuse.
It is interesting to see this been discussed in the wild with people conscious that we need to be paying attention everywhere about our data.
I’ve been trying to figure out how to get a game (Aion) with Active Anticheat to work on CachyOS, tried multiple configurations, libraries, etc… And even tried to make my own private server of that game (Aion) to try to figure out what kind of files and permissions I need to make it run. And doesn’t matter what I put there, the Anticheat “dump” everything. I’m certain now that those softwares are just data miners getting our informations so their devs can sells it… I’ve given up all games that uses any kind of Anticheat, not because I can’t run it, but because it just steal our data to be sell… That is sad at certain point.
I don’t see why they wouldn’t. Even anticheats that are linux compatible most definitely also collect a lot of data, but att least these games can be sandboxed and therefore the information that they can collect is limited
That part I’m not 100%. If the game requires anticheat some may be really invasive like was mentioned in the discussion:
These “anticheats” are just rootkits with marketing. No idea about Aion - ist it also like riots Vanguard?
Vanguard is basically ring 0 kernel access, process enumeration, memory scanning, filesystem monitoring, hardware fingerprinting. Runs at boot whether you’re playing or not. Higher privileges than your OS. Can read your banking passwords, source code, everything.
It is difficult to not be pessimist if this is true. Given that gaming studios are having trouble to maximize profit and please investors, I don’t see why they wouldn’t start join the data scrapping easy path. There is a part of me that believes that if wasn’t for Valve’s Steam Deck much more games would already be with “anticheat tools”.
Also, somewhat contradictory to the aforementioned, gaming is a consumer growing market and as we all know, many people really don’t care about privacy. This can paint a very dangerous picture, collecting large mass data in the future without anyone noticing.
Nevertheless, does anyone here cared to validate the claim that was made? I’m not sure if this hold any truth or is only F.U.D. I’m not a gamer, so I don’t know for sure.
Most people don’t understand that kernel-level cheats are root kits. You’re basically installing a vulnerability that has complete and total control over your system in exchange for you to cheat on a game. Anyone passing out kernel level cheats for free might also be adding you to a botnet, installing a keylogger, you name it.
Anticheat is ALSO a rootkit. The only difference is if you trust the game devs, maybe because you payed for the game they won’t have an incentive to exploit your system. But it happens.