Valve Caught 40,000 Dota 2 Cheaters By Adding Hidden Data

Dota 2 is Steam’s second most popular Game behind CS:GO, and just like with CS:GO, Valve has to be on the constant lookout for cheaters. Today, Dota 2 is down 40,000 accounts that were using illegal software to cheat in Dota 2 because Valve employed an interesting strategy to catch them in the act.

In yesterday’s blog update, Valve confirmed 40,000 accounts were banned for using software that "was able to access information used internally by the Dota client that wasn't visible during normal Gameplay, giving the cheater an unfair advantage." Valve fixed the underlying issue, but rather than just issue a patch to render all that cheat software useless, the Dota 2 developer instead set a trap.

Related: I Hope The Steam Deck Makes Me Fall In Love With PC Gaming Again

"We released a patch as soon as we understood the method these cheats were using. This patch created a honeypot: a section of data inside the Game client that would never be read during normal Gameplay, but that could be read by these exploits," explained Valve. "Each of the accounts banned today read from this ‘secret’ area in the client, giving us extremely high confidence that every ban was well-deserved."

Valve Ban Hammer Dota 2
via Valve

When all was said and done, Valve discovered 40,000 accounts accessed the hidden code, so they all got the ban. Valve noted it was an unusually large ban wave due to the prevalence of the exploit among cheat manufacturers.

"While the battle against cheaters and cheat developers often takes place in the shadows, we wanted to make this example visible, and use it to make our position clear: If you are running any application that reads data from the Dota client as you're playing Games, your account can be permanently banned from playing Dota," Valve added. "This includes professional players, who will be banned from all Valve comPetitive events."

Valve expects new cheats to come in the way of this ban wave, but has vowed to develop further countermeasures and ban more accounts that get caught cheating.

Valve isn't the only one fighting the good fight against cheaters. Bungie recently won its lawsuit against AimJunkies and was awarded over $4.4 million in damages.

Next: New World Roadmap Announcement With New Seasonal Model And Other Huge Changes

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Alzheimer's may be caused by immune cells thinking brain cells are bacteria, expert says

Image
The pursuit of a cure for Alzheimer's disease is becoming an increasingly competitive and contentious quest with recent years witnessing several important controversies. In July 2022, Science magazine reported that a key 2006 research paper, published in the prestigious journal Nature, which identified a subtype of brain protein called beta-amyloid as the cause of Alzheimer's, may have been based on fabricated data. One year earlier, in June 2021, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had approved aducanumab, an antibody-targeting beta-amyloid, as a treatment for Alzheimer's, even though the data supporting its use were incomplete and contradictory. Some physicians believe aducanumab never should have been approved, while others maintain it should be given a chance. With millions of people needing an effective treatment, why are researchers still fumbling in this quest for a cure for what is arguably one of the most important diseases confronting humankind? Esc...
Read more

Poetry at Work Day (January 9th, 2024)

Image
Quick facts When is it? January 14th, 2014 January 13th, 2015 January 12th, 2016 January 12th, 2017 January 9th, 2018 January 8th, 2019 January 14th, 2020 January 12th, 2021 January 11th, 2022 January 10th, 2023 January 9th, 2024 January 14th, 2025 What's the date pattern? Second Tuesday in January Tagged as Hobbies & Activities Poetry What's the hashtag? #PoetryatWorkDay Have we missed something? Fancy yourself as the next Keats, Wordsworth or Shakespeare? Poetry at Work Day is a chance to let those creative talents shine. Poetry at Work Day is a chance to let your creative juices flow and see the beauty in what you do. Whether you spend your days teaching children, tending to poorly patients or closing deals, there’s inspiration all around. Many of us struggle to find the time to exercise our brains in a creative manner, and this is an opportunity to feel free and to put thoughts, ideas, opinions and feelings down on paper. From aspiring writers to p...
Read more

The mystery of the woman who burned to ashes in the apartment is still intact: A history of decades

Image
When police found Mary Reeser, most of her body was burned to ashes. It is difficult to understand that all furniture in the apartment is almost intact. This mysterious case for the past 70 years has not found a convincing answer. On July 2, 1951, Pansy Carpenter, Mary Reeser’s landlady, stopped by the tenant’s apartment to send a telegram. When Pansy knocked on the door, no one answered. She put her hand on the doorknob and felt unusually hot, so she called the police. Police immediately went to the apartment at 1,200 Cherry Street (St. Petersburg town, Florida, USA) and discovered Mrs. Marry Reeser, 67 years old, burned to death in a mysterious fire. Reports say that the victim’s body was burned to ashes by a “white” flame – the color shows a temperature between 1,300-1,500 degrees Celsius, equivalent to the temperature in a crematorium. The victim’s body was almost completely ash, leaving only one leg with...
Read more