Game publishers EA and Activision Blizzard proceed to hunt ways to stop cheating by requiring users to enable hardware-based security measures. Each Battlefield 6 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 are amongst a growing list of online games to require features akin to secure boot, TPM 2.0, or HVCI. These features are supported by newest motherboards/CPUs, and within the case of TPM 2.0, are required by Windows 11. They’re intended to guard user data and forestall unauthorized processes from running. Game publishers are increasingly counting on these features within the hope that they will prevent cheat apps from running on systems when users play online games.
Battlefield 6 and secure boot
EA recently announced that players are required to make use of Secure Boot to play the latest game. Secure Boot is certainly not a brand new feature, nevertheless it’s questionable what number of PC users have it turned on; nonetheless, they shall be required to achieve this in the event that they wish to play the upcoming game. In accordance with its system requirements page, TPM 2.0 can also be required, nevertheless it’s moreover possible that EA might add HVCI/VBS to the list of required security measures as well, since each are listed as “capable” in the necessities.
Per EA:
“Requiring Secure Boot provides us with features that we are able to leverage against cheats that try and infiltrate in the course of the Windows boot process. It also lets the Battlefield Positive Play team use its own features and related dependent security measures like TPM to combat other types of cheating, probably the most relevant of which include:
- Kernel-Level Cheats and Rootkits
- Memory Manipulation and Injection
- Spoofing and Hardware ID Manipulation
- Virtual Machines and Emulation
- Tampering with Anti-Cheat Systems
Any try and access Battlefield 6 without Secure Boot enabled will lead to a prompt indicating its necessity.”
EA’s efforts to chop out cheating have had some impact, with it reporting that over 330,00 attempts have been blocked by its Javelin anti-cheat system in only 2 days, but there’s still work to be done. As reported by EA (via DSOG), players also reported on roughly 100,000 instances of potential cheaters, and a video showing what appears to be an auto-aiming cheat has already been posted online.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot
Activision Blizzard also recently posted that it, too, shall be requiring TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot to play Call of Duty: Black Ops 7. The RICOCHET anti-cheat solution is being updated per the brand new requirements and is being rolled out in Season 5.
Season 5 Highlight Per Activision Blizzard:
- TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot: Strengthening game security with built-in Windows PC features
- Securing Your Account: Protect against account hijacking with email verification and 2FA features
- Game Pass Free Trial on PC: Updated policy to support fair competition in Ranked Play
- Detections Targeting Boosting and Teaming: Removing boosters and teamers from the sport and leaderboards with a deal with Ranked Play integrity
- Advancing Cheat Prevention: Targeting 22 additional individuals with legal motion; nearly 40 cheat vendors shut down since launch
- Community Questions: Additional details around two recent security measures, TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot
“With Season 05, Call of Duty will begin a phased rollout of two PC-based security measures: TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot.
TPM 2.0 (Trusted Platform Module) is an industry-standard, hardware-based security feature built onto CPUs or motherboards that verifies the PC’s boot process has not been tampered with. Secure Boot makes sure a PC can only load trusted software when Windows starts.
Together, these features help #TeamRICOCHET make sure that players are starting the sport from a secure, cheat-free foundation.”
-Activision Blizzard
Obviously, cheaters are at all times going to aim to seek out ways to finish run any countermeasures. It’s a tragic state of being, with some boldly showing that aimbots and cheat controllers may be used for PCs and consoles without the necessity for software overrides. One can only hope that publishers will proceed their efforts to work with the community to rein this in.