The cheat community has grown increasingly sophisticated with their techniques to circumvent VAC, ESEA, and other anti-cheats. In the past there have been multiple instances of high profile players being caught cheating online and based on the data we have analyzed over several months, it's our strong belief that there continue to be factions of players using cheats to gain an unfair competitive advantage.
The latest generation of cheats, which are designed similarly to malware, gain an advantage when loading before anti-cheat tools. It's customary at live tournaments to not even allow players to connect thumb drives or other USB enabled devices out of fear that an illegal cheat could be used. After much deliberation and under the careful guidance of legal, security, and privacy experts, the ESEA Client takes a more active and aggressive approach, similar to the publicly available anti-virus software, to monitoring the activities around Counter-Strike in order to combat these efforts.
We have worked closely with professional counsel to create transparent disclosures about the invasive nature of the Client and define clear and appropriate internal security protocols to protect our users from unauthorized access of Client and user data.
We understand these extra security layers might make some uneasy, but it is our firm belief this is a necessary step to protect our customers who seek the fairest environment for online Counter-Strike game play.
Below are some of the more common questions we see about our anti-cheat.
Are you looking at my browsing history and bank information?
The ESEA Client only monitors activities that take place in and around our supported games. Accessing your bank account or any personal websites you browse daily, even while a supported game is in use, are not a part of what the ESEA Client is monitoring.
Are my personal files safe?
The ESEA Client only accesses files which may be used to aid in cheating. Sensitive personal data is not being monitored or scanned.
Does the ESEA Client monitor or log my messaging applications, such as Steam messages or voice conversations?
The ESEA Client does not monitor or log activity from messaging applications, nor is this of interest to us. We do, however, monitor and log messages you write while connected in ESEA servers (via say/say_team). This allows ESEA to enforce our community rules, much like we do on the forums.
Who can access our anti-cheat data?
Only members of our exclusive Anti-Cheat Team will have any access to anti-cheat data. We deploy strict protocols and have worked with privacy and security experts to make sure your data remains private. General and League administrators do not have access to any of this information.
Why is the ESEA Client "Always On"?
Much like the leading anti-virus software, which are always running to prevent or detect viruses, the ESEA Client is running to prevent or detect cheats that may be running on a computer. This "Always On" feature is a necessary layer for the ever evolving cheaters we as a community face.
What techniques does the ESEA Client use to detect cheaters?
The ESEA Client uses proprietary techniques to protect and enforce fairplay for the ESEA platform as well as any tournaments and events hosted on ESEA. While these techniques are proprietary and could assist cheat developers if we divulge detailed information, occasionally it is beneficial to the Anti-Cheat and esports industry to share some of our technological advancements.