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Announcing Ricochet Anti-Cheat: A New Initiative For Call Of Duty

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman



Cheating in Call of Duty is frustrating for players, developers, and the entire community.

Our teams have made great strides in combatting this persistent issue that affects so many, but we know more must be done.

We are proud to introduce RICOCHET Anti-Cheat, a robust anti-cheat system supported by a team of dedicated professionals focused on fighting unfair play.

The RICOCHET Anti-Cheat initiative is a multi-faceted approach to combat cheating, featuring new server-side tools which monitor analytics to identify cheating, enhanced investigation processes to stamp out cheaters, updates to strengthen account security, and more. RICOCHET Anti-Cheat’s backend anti-cheat security features will launch alongside Call of Duty®: Vanguard, and later this year with the Pacific update coming to Call of Duty: Warzone.

In addition to server enhancements coming with RICOCHET Anti-Cheat is the launch of a new PC kernel-level driver, developed internally for the Call of Duty franchise, and launching first for Call of Duty: Warzone. This driver will assist in the identification of cheaters, reinforcing and strengthening the overall server security. The kernel-level driver launches alongside the Pacific update for Warzone later this year.

While the kernel driver, which is only a part of RICOCHET Anti-Cheat, will release to PC, by extension, console players playing via cross-play against players on PC will also stand to benefit. The kernel-level driver will subsequently release for Call of Duty: Vanguard at a later date.

What is RICOCHET Anti-Cheat?
The new anti-cheat security initiative is designed to fight unfair play.
Here is why RICOCHET Anti-Cheat matters:
1. A Full Anti-Cheat System. RICOCHET Anti-Cheat brings a broad enhancement to the security of for Call of Duty, bringing server enhancements to Call of Duty: Vanguard and Call of Duty: Warzone. Launching first in Warzone later this year is a new kernel-level driver on PC. The driver will be integrated into Call of Duty: Vanguard at a later date. The new initiative allows for rapid iteration to combat a sophisticated and evolving problem.
2. Call of Duty: Warzone Adds Kernel-Level Driver. Kernel-level drivers are given a high level of access to monitor and manage software and applications on a PC, such as your PC’s graphics card driver. The driver element of the RICOCHET Anti-Cheat system will check the software and applications that attempt to interact and manipulate Call of Duty: Warzone, providing the overall security team more data to bolster security. Once the kernel-level driver is deployed; it will be required to play Warzone. For more detailed information about RICOCHET Anti-Cheat and its kernel-level driver, read the dedicated FAQ.
3. Protecting Your Privacy. In its initial rollout on Call of Duty: Warzone, the kernel-level driver will only operate when you play on PC. The driver is not always-on. The software turns on when you start Call of Duty: Warzone and shuts down when you close the game. Plus, the kernel-level driver only monitors and reports activity related to Call of Duty.
4. Feedback and Transparency Are Crucial. You are also a critical part in our pursuit to combat cheating. So, please continue to report issues in-game, allowing the RICOCHET Anti-Cheat team to adapt all tools to combat cheaters.
RICOCHET_ANTI-CHEAT-001.jpg

How the kernel-level driver works
The kernel-level driver for PC as part of the RICOCHET Anti-Cheat system monitors software or applications that attempt to interact with Call of Duty: Warzone.
The driver will help the RICOCHET Anti-Cheat team to learn about suspicious behavior, using that data to strengthen overall anti-cheating security over time.
Ensuring player privacy is extremely important, and the prospect of a kernel-level driver may give some players pause. Given those concerns, here is how your privacy will remain unaffected with RICOCHET Anti-Cheat:
· RICOCHET Anti-Cheat's kernel-level driver operates ONLY while playing Call of Duty: Warzone on PC.
· RICOCHET Anti-Cheat's driver is not always-on.
· RICOCHET Anti-Cheat's driver monitors the software and applications that interact with Call of Duty: Warzone.
· When you shut down Call of Duty: Warzone, the driver turns off.
Testing for the new driver has been done to ensure system stability across a large range of PCs. The RICOCHET Anti-Cheat team is committed to continued testing and iteration after launch.
Player-reporting will remain a critical element in all anti-cheat measures, so it’s important that players continue to report suspicious behavior they encounter online.
Another layer in the battle against cheaters is the evolving use of machine learning (ML). ML algorithms examine gameplay data from the server, helping to identify suspicious behavior trends, and add another layer of security as part of the overall RICOCHET Anti-Cheat initiative.
A critical element of security is ensuring your own account is protected. Two-factor authentication is extremely important for your account security. We strongly recommend two-factor authentication for Call of Duty, log into your account and learn how to enable two-factor authentication.
RICOCHET_ANTI-CHEAT-TOUT.jpg


When RICOCHET Anti-Cheat launches, we intend to amplify its arrival, both in-game and by using our communication channels – our blog, social media, and other forms of outreach – to keep everyone informed.

The RICOCHET Anti-Cheat team’s commitment is the relentless pursuit of fair play, which is fought against the sophisticated issue of cheating. We are dedicated and determined to evolve the RICOCHET Anti-Cheat System over time, fighting for the community against those that aim to spoil their gaming experience.
 
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MrFunSocks

Banned
Sounds good. As an almost exclusively online multiplayer person for the last 10 years, the main thing that has kept me on consoles is the amount of cheating that goes on on PC. It's getting more wide spread on consoles now thanks to XIM and the like, and cross play on Warzone against PC players with mouse and keyboard and cheats is just not a good experience. Doesn't help that on the xbox you can't turn cross play off for some bizarre reason, but you can on playstation.
 

Chiggs

Member
Creepy and invasive, and not exactly for an important cause.

But, I kind of understand where they’re coming from.
 

//DEVIL//

Member
Unless it’s a hardware IP ban, it’s useless. These scum People have no issue to rebuy the game, but they will think twice before doing it if it’s a Hardware ban. And no using vpn isn’t work around as you can’t really play with high ping on vpn ( and that’s assuming they can’t get the hardware info )

also, while XIM and others are not really very popular or let’s shoot wild spread, this anti cheat won’t solve that problem.
They need a solution that detect the movement speed of analogue stick and compare it to a mouse and find a solution to detect the difference and ban based on that.
 
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01011001

Banned
Unless it’s an hardware IP ban, it’s useless. People who do have no issue to rebuy the game, but they will think twice before doing if it’s an Hardware ban. And no using vpn isn’t a work around as you can’t really play with high ping vpn ( and that’s assuming they can’t get the hardware info )

also, while XIM and others are not really very popular or let’s shoot wild spread, this anti cheat won’t solve that problem.
They need a solution that detect the movement speed of analogue stick and compare it to a mouse and find a solution to detect the difference and ban based on that. Otherwise this is useless

someone at Microsoft said a while ago that devices like the Strike Pack and Chronus max can easily be detected on Xbox, but they themselves do not ban people from using it, developers are free to do so tho.

so it's clearly not something they care about sadly.
 
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Lanrutcon

Member
Yeah...let's see exactly what it monitors. I'm betting they'll use this opportunity to sneak in some choice data gathering.
 

bargeparty

Member
Epic bought easyanticheat which has been running at the kernel level for years. that Ricochet thing doesn't bring any novelty at all and is just noise to appease the gamers.

silly me, i forgot we lived in a world where everything is exactly the same. time will tell how effective their efforts are. but EAC does fuck all.
 

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman

Past of this includes changes which have been made to the security enforcement policy for Vanguard, which now states that extreme cases of cheating can lead to permanent bans that reach beyond just the specific title that was being played.

The updated text now reads: “Permanent suspensions are lasting and final, and can apply across this title and past, present, or future titles in the Call of Duty franchise.”

In the blog, the studio explains that permanent suspensions like this will only be given for “extreme or repeated violations of the security policy, such as in-game cheating”. It can also be applied to players who “attempt to hide, disguise, or obfuscate [their] identity or the identity of [their] hardware devices”.

There are still some situations where players will instead be given temporary suspensions, which “can range from 48 hours to two weeks or longer, depending on the severity of the infraction”, but will then return players to the game.

“All our anti-cheat efforts are focused on fighting unfair play and protecting the player experience,” reads the blog post.

“Launching the server updates as part of the Ricochet Anti-Cheat system is the first step in our new anti-cheat security initiative and we’re working hard to make things as frustrating as possible for cheaters.”
 

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman

This latest Ricochet update comes from a series of attempts by Activision to crackdown on cheaters in Call of Duty: Warzone that make for an unfair playing experience for players that don't cheat. However, the Ricochet platform doesn't only target aimbots and wallhackers, but is attempting to find and stop methods of bypassing certain reward thresholds and avoiding bans.

The update to the Ricochet anti-cheating method will be applying what is known as a kernal-level driver to PC players that will activate as soon as Call of Duty: Warzone is booted up and turns off with the game as well. This basically means that Ricochet will have first priority when searching through a player's game files and looking for any programs that shouldn't be present without cheating. In addition to finding things like aimbots and other programs that can give a player a serious advantage over others, the anit-cheat program is also looking to pinpoint the origins of several cheat systems that nefarious players use.

According to Activision, another goal of Ricochet is to find the cheat developers and account sellers who profit off of introducing cheats into the community and giving players shortcuts through online progress. There will also be changes coming to the security enforcement policies, so there may soon be more risk to using or selling these cheat programs online. Players can expect to see the rollout start in the Asia-Pacific region before begining to go worldwide as the developer takes in feedback of how the anit-cheat system is affecting Call of Duty: Warzone Pacific's first season.
 

carlosrox

Banned
I've said several times before that while I have seen some cheats here and there in WZ, from my experience it's nowhere near as rampant as some people make it out to be.

However, this is still nothing but good news.


Cheating losers can suck a dick.
 
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