Electronics Arts (EA) is launching a new core-level anti-cheat system developed in-house to protect its games from fakes and cheaters. It will first debut in FIFA 23, but not all of its games will have the system implemented. The Verge reports: Kernel-level anti-cheat systems have drawn criticism from privacy and security advocates because the drivers used in these systems are complex and perform at such a high level that if there are security issues, developers must address them very quickly. EA says that kernel-level protection is “absolutely vital” for competitive games like FIFA 23, as existing cheats run in kernel space, so games running in normal user mode cannot detect that cheating is taking place or deception. “Unfortunately, the number of kernel-mode cheats and reading methods has increased significantly over the past few years, so the only reliable way to detect and block them is to also run our anti-cheat,” explains [Elise Murphy, senior director of game security and anti-cheat at EA].
EA’s anti-cheat system will work at the kernel level and only works when the game is running with EAAC protection. EA says its anti-cheat processes stop once a game does, and that anti-cheats will be limited to the data it collects in the system. “EAAC does not collect any information about your browsing history, apps not related to EA games, or anything not directly related to cheat protection,” says Murphy.
