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EA Anticheat and Battlefield 2042

T0TALfps's avatar
T0TALfps
Seasoned Veteran
2 years ago

Hello all,

As part of our ongoing efforts to create a safe and fair experience for all players we're transitioning Battlefield™ 2042 over to EA anticheat with the launch of Season 6 in October.

When we transition over to EA anticheat you won't notice anything different when logging in and playing, but this transition will enable our teams to be better equipped to find and remove players that don't play fair. 

When we say PTFO we also mean ensuring fair play across the Battlefield. The rollout of EA anticheat to Battlefield 2042 is part of this ongoing effort, and we'll continue making adjustments and improvements towards fair play.

We've outlined a full FAQ for you below in case you have further questions.

//The Battlefield Team

FAQ

What is EA anticheat?
EA anticheat is a kernel-mode anti-cheat and anti-tamper solution developed in-house at Electronic Arts. PC cheat developers have increasingly moved into the kernel, so we need to have kernel-mode protections to ensure fair play and tackle PC cheat developers on an even playing field. 

As tech-inclined video gamers ourselves, it is important to us to make sure that any kernel anti-cheat included in our games acts with a strong focus on the privacy and security of our gamers that use a PC. 

Why are you moving to EA anticheat?

Third party anti-cheat solutions are often opaque to our teams, and prevent us from implementing additional privacy controls or customizations that provide greater accuracy and granularity for EA-specific game modes. With EA anticheat we have full stack ownership of the security & privacy posture, so we can fix security issues as soon as they may arise.

Why is kernel level anti-cheat needed?
This varies on a game-by-game basis. For games that are highly competitive and contain many online modes such as Battlefield 2042, kernel-mode protection is absolutely vital. When cheat programs operate in kernel space, they can make their cheat functionally invisible to anti-cheat solutions that live in user-mode. 

Unfortunately, the last few years have seen a large increase in cheats and cheat techniques operating in kernel-mode, so the only reliable way to detect and block these is to continue to have our anti-cheat operate there as well. 

In addition to EA anticheat protecting our PC players from cheaters, our console players who match with PC opponents through Battlefield 2042’s cross-play features will also be protected from cheaters operating on PC platforms.

Are the System Requirements for Battlefield 2042 changing?

We still support Windows 10 and 11.
 

Will EA anticheat degrade gameplay?
No. We’ve conducted extensive internal and independent performance and stability assessments to ensure EA anticheat is as performant and lightweight as possible. EA anticheat will have negligible impact on your gameplay.
 

Does EA anticheat run when I start my PC, or only when the game is running?
EA anticheat only runs when a game with EA anticheat protection included is running. All anti-cheat processes shut down when the game does.
 

Does EA anticheat stay on my PC if I uninstall Battlefield 2042? Can I uninstall it if I want?
If you have uninstalled all of your EA games that have EA anticheat protection, EA anticheat will automatically uninstall and remove itself from your PC. It can also be manually uninstalled by you at any time you choose and will be completely removed from your PC. 

Please note that if you uninstall EA anticheat , any games that require EA anticheat protection (like Battlefield 2042) will not be playable until EA anticheat is reinstalled. If you would like to reinstall EA anticheat we’ve made it as easy as possible to do so, with simple prompts in the game launch process.
 

Does EA anticheat let EA see my browsing history, personal files, or things like that?

Player privacy is a top concern of our Game Security & Anti-Cheat team - after all, we’re players as well! EA anticheat will only look at what it needs to for anti-cheat purposes in our games and we have limited the information EA anticheat  collects. If you have a process on your PC that is trying to interact with our game, EA anticheat could see that and respond. However, everything else is off limits. 

EA anticheat does not gather any information about your browsing history, applications that are not connected to EA games, or anything that is not directly related to anti-cheat protection. We’ve worked with independent, 3rd party computer security and privacy services firms to ensure EA anticheat operates with data privacy top of mind.

For the information that EA anticheat does collect, we strive to maintain privacy where possible through a cryptographic process called hashing to create unique identifiers and discard the original information. Overall, EA anticheat use of your computer and data collection is consistent with EA’s User Agreement and Privacy and Cookie Policy.
 

How do I know that EA anticheat is not introducing any security vulnerabilities to my PC?

Our Game Security & Anti-Cheat team is composed of some of the best security engineers in the world, and we are passionate about ensuring that our software does not cause any security vulnerabilities. Our anti-cheat engineering team performs daily testing and we continuously run security and penetration tests against EA anticheat internally. 

 

But don’t just trust our word on this.  We’ve also worked with independent, 3rd party security and privacy assessors to validate EA anticheat does not degrade the security posture of your PC and to ensure strict data privacy boundaries.

Although we’re confident that we’ve taken every possible precaution, we are monitoring and listening to any reports received to make sure that potential issues get addressed as quickly as possible.
 

I think I found a security vulnerability with EA anticheat, who can I contact?

If you believe you’ve found a vulnerability, please let us know by following our Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure process by emailing secure@ea.com right away. We take potential security issues seriously, and will work to fix them as quickly as we can.

Where can I get help if I run into issues with EA anticheat?

If you need help to install and troubleshoot EA anticheat on your PC then you can visit our EA Help page.

This announcement may change as we listen to community feedback and continue developing and evolving our Live Service & Content. We will always strive to keep our community as informed as possible.

Published 2 years ago
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  • EA_Vendcera's avatar
    EA_Vendcera
    Icon for Community Manager rankCommunity Manager
    6 months ago

    EA anticheat is leveling the playing field

    Keeping players safe and secure while creating fun and fair experiences

    “Rosebud” and “Motherlode” in The Sims. The Konami Code. The Blood Code. Those who know these names know one infallible truth – that for as long as we’ve had video games, we’ve had cheat codes. Mostly used at first by developers to help with playtesting and debugging, cheat codes have always been a part of the game. Like the carriage hitched to the back of the video game train. 

    For single-player games this has typically been a non-issue, as it only impacts that player's game by their own choice. We even list out a whole selection of cheat codes for The Sims 4 on our own site. But when it starts to encroach into multiplayer games, the fun is quickly dragged down. Communities such as those found in EA’s blockbuster IPs including EA SPORTS FC, Battlefield and more, all expect a fun and fair gaming experience. One where their skill, practice and dedication to improving are rewarded.

    And so to protect our players and fans around the world, we took action. What came of it was our own proprietary software known as EA anticheat. The goal is for players to have a level playing field where results, progression and success are determined purely by merit. This allows our players to have a more secure gaming experience, preventing cheaters from impacting others’ gameplay, security and privacy.

    And it’s evolving every day.

    “EA anticheat allows us to uphold the integrity of the game. We want to be representing those players that have put hours into our titles and our games to know their accomplishments are based on merit.”

    The growth and evolution of our industry-leading anti-cheat software

    Initially launched in September 2022 with one of the company’s flagship titles, FIFA 23, EA anticheat has since grown to 10 titles and counting. Over the past 24 months, more of our development teams have seen the value in EA anticheat and have begun to utilize it as their anti-cheat software of choice to meet their increasing security and privacy needs.

    EA anticheat has prevented nearly five million attempts (and counting!) to cheat in EA anticheat-protected games. This has led to over twenty million PC players enjoying fair play in more than one and a half billion PC gaming sessions. We plan to add more titles in FY25 in response to player excitement with our technology.

    Truthfully, it’s all thanks to the remarkable and passionate team behind it–EA’s Game Security team. The team’s mission is to protect our players' experience throughout the gaming lifecycle by empowering our game developer community to build the most secure games on the planet and providing innovative and effective anti-cheat protections. Guided by our values of integrity, collaboration, and inclusivity, our team helps shape the future of gaming by solving the hardest problems.

    It’s no small feat. But their success is no accident, either.

    Elise Murphy, Head of Game Security, and AC Ward, Director of Anti-Cheat Engineering have been with the Game Security team since before launching EA anticheat. They took it from an idea to reality.

    “We pulled this brand new team together and we thought, if we’re going to do this for one of our titles, we should look at this more broadly for all of EA’s games,” says Elise. “We were already bumping into hurdles with third-party anti-cheats, including using some from our direct competitors. And the thing with that is we can’t share a lot of our game code or data, and so we weren’t able to get the best protection for our games.”

    “We’re a fast-acting team, and any time there’s been an issue we have been able to meet directly with teams, and get them what they needed in a very timely manner,” says AC. 

    Both Elise and AC point to their launch as proof of this. EA anticheat’s first game was FIFA 23, a blockbuster sports action title beloved the world over. The game leans heavily into online play and security is top of mind while keeping the game running smoothly and maintaining its integrity. EA anticheat had some issues at launch, but the Game Security team quickly responded to them and got it right back on track.

    They did a remarkable job, and to this day the FC team is utilizing EA anticheat as one of their security tools.

    Offering unique value to our game devs

    As a kernel-mode anti-cheat and anti-tamper solution developed in-house, EA anticheat is able to level the playing field not only for our players in our world-class games, but also for our developers to have even footing with PC cheat developers.

    And the Game Security team works with each developer to address their unique needs and meet their specific requirements.

    “Whether it’s compatibility, marketplace integration, game safety, or even things outside of anti-cheat like game bugs and game crashes, our team is here to help,” says AC. “Because we’re an in-house solution, we can help and support in all these ways, from end-to-end, because nothing needs to be obfuscated. We are open to our teams, and they are open to us, and with that, we have continued to evolve EA anticheat into its best version yet.”

    One element Elise and AC are particularly fond of is the ability for EA anticheat to update separately from the games.

    “We’re not tied to the game updates themselves. They’re completely decoupled,” says AC.

    And when they do deploy updates, the team has also developed a process that is being noticed by their peers across the industry for their innovation. They have a fleet of machines across the globe, ensuring they are geographically separated, and when a new update is ready, these test machines all run the updates and go through every single game title one-by-one in a fully automated process. No human needs to press a button to get the results. 

    “We will run every single one of our games to optimize it for the end user machine,” says AC. “We literally cannot ship our code without this step.”

    “Our partnerships are also hugely beneficial, both externally and internally,” adds Elise.

    Above all, Elise and AC have a customer-first mentality. They want EA anticheat to be used as much as possible, but they want to ensure it’s the right software for the right game.

    “At the end of the day, we are trying to protect our players and make sure they are having a good time playing our game. EA anticheat helps make that a reality,” says Elise.

     “At the end of the day, we are trying to protect our players and make sure they are having a good time playing our games. EA anticheat helps make that a reality.”


    Dedication to privacy and security for years to come

    At EA, we’re passionate about delivering unrivaled sports action, blockbuster IPs, and stunningly immersive game worlds. From the intense battles within the Battlefield franchise to the vibrant excitement of EA SPORTS FC 24 and beyond, our anticheat technology ensures a fair and thrilling experience.

    Our ongoing updates and innovations are designed to enhance security and protect player systems while maintaining the seamless, enjoyable gameplay experience that our players expect. As we advance, EA anticheat will remain dedicated to upholding the highest standards of integrity and security in every game we support.

    We understand that every studio has unique needs, and we’re dedicated to collaborating with our teams to tailor their needs for their exceptional projects.