InfoconDB

Playing Dirty Without Cheating - Getting Banned for Fun and No Profit

Presented at DEF CON 33 (2025), Aug. 10, 2025, 11 a.m. (45 minutes).

Welcome to the world’s worst let’s-play: if you’ve ever wanted to get yourself or your friends banned from a game: Stick around. We explore how modern anti-cheat systems work, and practically show how to get banned in the most innovative and hilarious ways possible—all without launching a single real cheat. We also dive into Hardware ID bans, and how machine ‘fingerprints’ are collected and enforced. With this knowledge at hand, we demonstrate how to remotely poison innocent machines — capturing a target’s HWID, spoofing it, and getting it burned. BIOS flashing, RAM SPD rewriting, and other fun tricks included. Join our masterclass in making yourself and others appear guilty online. References: - Books - Windows Internals, Part 1, 7th Edition - Windows Internals, Part 2, 7th Edition - Cheating in General - UnKnoWnCheaTs [link](https://www.unknowncheats.me/) - Secret Club [link](https://secret.club/) - Guided Hacking [link](https://guidedhacking.com/) - MPGH [link](https://www.mpgh.net/) - Game Hacking Academy [link](https://gamehacking.academy/) - Reddit [link](https://www.reddit.com/) - Hypercall [link](https://hypercall.net/) - Talks - BH EU-19 Unveiling the Underground World of Anti-Cheat [link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJHyHU5UjTg&t=26s) - DEFCON 15 Virtual World Real Hacking [link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmwhrWxpViw) - DEFCON 32 Intro To Game Hacking [link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0O3SHrBFbE) - Game Hacking Technical References - General Game Hacking Methods [link](https://guidedhacking.com/threads/ghb1-start-here-beginner-guide-to-game-hacking.5911/) - Static Analysis [link](https://guidedhacking.com/threads/ida-pro-beginner-guide.8006/) - Dynamic Analysis [link](https://gamehacking.academy/pages/2/06/) - Code Injection [link](https://www.unknowncheats.me/forum/general-programming-and-reversing/213038-extreme-injector-v3-7-a.html,https://guidedhacking.com/threads/ghb1-start-here-beginner-guide-to-game-hacking.5911/) - Anti-Cheat Technical References - General Anticheat Guide [link](https://guidedhacking.com/threads/how-to-bypass-anticheat-start-here-beginners-guide.9882/) - HWID Bans [link](https://www.unknowncheats.me/forum/anti-cheat-bypass/266433-faq-anti-cheats-bypasses-hardware-ids.html) - File Integrity Checks [link](https://guidedhacking.com/threads/anti-debug-techniques-file-hashing.20485/) - Memory Integrity Checks [link](https://guidedhacking.com/threads/how-to-bypass-anticheat-start-here-beginners-guide.9882/) - Code Injection Countermeasures [link](https://guidedhacking.com/threads/how-to-bypass-anticheat-start-here-beginners-guide.9882/) - Obfuscation [link](https://hypercall.net/posts/Battleye/) - Anti-Debug [link](https://guidedhacking.com/threads/anti-debug-techniques-a-comprehensive-guide.20391/) - Anti-VM [link](https://secret.club/2020/01/12/battleye-hypervisor-detection.html) - Process Scanning [link](https://secret.club/2020/03/31/battleye-developer-tracking.html) - Kernel Anti-Cheat [link](https://secret.club/2020/04/17/kernel-anticheats.html) - Kernel Injection [link](https://guidedhacking.com/threads/how-to-bypass-kernel-anticheat-develop-drivers.11325/) - SPD Rewriting [link](https://badram.eu/) - Our Dataset [link](https://github.com/SamCollins1327/Anti-Cheat_2024)

Presenters:

  • Sam Collins
    Sam is a PhD research student studying at the University of Birmingham UK with an interest in attacks and defences in the Man-At-The-End-Scenario found in anti-cheat systems. He also works in teaching reverse engineering and binary analysis via game hacking. As part of this he developed an impossible to beat multiplayer video game for undergraduate students to hack as coursework. During his research he has been banned from every competitive shooter title and will happily offer this as a service for anyone who plays too much Fortnite and would like to stop.
  • Marius Muench
    Marius Muench is an assistant professor at the University of Birmingham. His research interests cover (in-)security of embedded systems, binary & microarchitectural exploitation, and defenses. He obtained his PhD from Sorbonne University in cooperation with EURECOM and worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He developed and maintains avatar2, a framework for analyzing embedded systems firmware, and FirmWire, an emulation and fuzzing platform for cellular basebands. Throughout his career, Marius publicly shared his findings and presented at venues such as Black Hat, Reverse.io, REcon, and Hardwear.io.
  • Tom Chothia
    Tom Chothia is a Professor of Cyber Security at the University of Birmingham, UK. His research involves the development of new mathematical analysis techniques, and the application of these techniques to real world cyber security problems. His past work on the security of EMV, ApplePay, banking apps, pacemakers and video game cheats have all received widespread media coverage.

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