Riot Games Increases Kernel-Level Anti-Cheat Software Bug Bounties

Riot Games is trying to reassure critics of its new anti-cheat software Vanguard by increasing its bug bounties up to $100,000. The anti-cheat runs at the kernel level and is always active. The software comes bundled with his new shooter Valorant.

The $100,000 is for kernel-level code execution, executed from the network and with no required user interaction. Other, less severe vulnerabilities yield less, the lowest being the local attack for privilege escalation resulting in access to sensitive data, which yields $25,000. However, Riot does not record how much it previously paid out for vulnerabilities, only that it has paid a total of nearly $2 million in premiums to date.

In addition to an extra premium on vulnerabilities in Vanguard, Riot posted a blog post on Friday that further explains how the aggressive anti-cheat works and why it was chosen, although again they can’t go into much detail because cheat makers are also reading along. Ars Technica also published an extensive piece on Riot’s anti-cheat last week, with additional commentary from the developer and experts.

The shooter the anti-cheat is for, Valorant, is currently in closed beta. The game attracted a record viewership on Twitch earlier this month, although that statistic isn’t natural: viewers could win a spot in the closed beta by watching streams of the game. The game attracted 1.7 million viewers. The new game combines elements from Overwatch and CS:GO. Valorant should be available to all players worldwide in the summer. The game is free to play.