3 esports anti-cheat practices used in tournaments

Imagine the prize pool is well over 5 million, and the outcome of the match depends on a single bullet. With stakes that high, some will try to exploit the system. Whether you are casually spectating the weekend main event or analyzing the latest 7bet odds, you want the certainty that the match is legitimate. 

Nobody wants to see a rogue piece of code win the championship. We want to see split-second reactions, the result of a deep human dive. But how exactly do the event organizers prevent such disasters? Anti-cheat software is no longer enough to stop would-be hackers. These are under-the-hood security measures that make LAN tournaments the most trusted in the industry!

Hardware quarantines 

As early as a few weeks before the event, each participant must prepare their input devices for inspection.  This is a necessary step since modern-day cheat programs can sometimes be directly embedded into a device’s firmware. Hackers could modify a mouse’s internal memory so that a simple button press would trigger an aimbot. 

To prevent such an exploit, the tournament’s security will inspect and potentially sanitize a player’s gear. Note that the peripherals are taken away from the participants until it is time to play. This is why you see the pros frantically scrambling before a match - they have to quickly reinstall their preferred DPI and button bindings. 

Internet and rig lockdown 

Your regular home PC is a far cry from what the professionals use. While you might have Discord and a browser open on your desktop, experts’ machines are stripped of every potential distraction. First, the organizers disconnect the internet. The PC has only one place to connect - the LAN (local area network), located inside the building, so the computer is not connected to the outside world. Such a setup makes it impossible for a hacker to remotely access the machine and inject malicious code.

The operating system is also heavily restricted - ports not needed for the LAN are closed off by the firewall. In some cases, the motherboard’s BIOS setting can also be used to disable USB ports, preventing unauthorized peripherals. In case a player wants to change their DPI or crosshair settings, they have to ask the tournament admins for permission.

White noise and referees 

Software and hardware security are not enough to guarantee a fair competition. With 20,000 fans in the stadium, what can stop a competitor’s friend from holding up a sign with information about the enemy team’s positions? To avoid such exploits, the players are isolated from the outside world. They must wear special noise-canceling headphones that block out all outside sound. 

Inside the headset, the players can hear the casters and their own teammates. The only way for an unscrupulous fan to leak information is if they get past the row of referees. These are not ordinary security guards - they are trained to watch the participants’ every move, making sure that they do not have any unauthorized devices!