You don’t have to look far to find examples of cheating in esports. Kaspersky is taking a big step towards combatting this scourge, with the beta version of Kaspersky Anti-Cheat. This cloud-based offering is set to help tournament organisers combat in-game cheating. Anti-Cheat provides real-time cheat detection and shares automated reports with the customer who can then make a disciplinary decision on the rule-breaker.

Only 12% of Online gamers have never had their multiplayer gaming experience spoilt by unfair actions of other players, according to the latest Irdeto Global Gaming Survey. This while one in three gamers have actually confessed to cheating.

The Anti-Cheat system can be easily integrated through the API of the eSports platform, rolled out to players and used to ensure fair play during the online stages of a tournament when it’s especially difficult to monitor cheating.

With this solution in place, to participate in an online competition a player needs to install the Anti-Cheat client distributed by the platform. After installation on the player’s computer, the game process information is collected, sent to the Kaspersky Anti-Cheat cloud and analysed for suspicious events. At the same time, the tournament referee will receive direct real-time cheat reports via a web interface. Kaspersky believes its Anti-Cheat solution provides technical evidence of cheating without taking any actions upon the player, leaving the final decision to the referee and tournament organisers.

Importantly, while ensuring cheat detection, Kaspersky Anti-Cheat puts the user experience first and does not affect the game process or overload traffic.

“Fair play is highly important to gamers who strive to show their class and skill. When games like CS:GO, PUBG or DOTA 2 become overloaded with cheaters, honest gamers will either stop playing or even give up the game for good. Therefore, our solution will provide tournament organisers with an opportunity to maintain a stable balance in the gaming community and monitor the progress of their competitions. With the introduction of Kaspersky Anti-Cheat, our company brings over 20-years of relevant experience in fighting malware and cybercrime, to a new territory. But we do not intend to rest on our laurels: this year will also see the launch of Kaspersky Anti-Cheat for Multiplayer online games”, claimed Anton Selikhov, product owner Kaspersky Anti-Cheat.

Kaspersky also announced its first commercial deal with StarLadder. As part of this deal, Kaspersky provides StarLadder with its services to supply the platform with an opportunity to organise fair and monitored tournaments, where gamers and audiences can be assured of fair gameplay.

Kaspersky Anti-Cheat solution is available across the globe and is designed for both game developers and eSport tournament organisers.