If you have Riot Games’ Valorant installed onto your PC, you may not have noticed the anti-cheat technology called Vanguard that works differently to other anti-cheat systems. Riot’s support site indicates that a kernel anti-cheat driver called ‘vgk.sys’ is needed to prevent cheaters. You may not notice it until you look at the list of background processes.
The kernel has full administrator rights in Windows, and the only way to prevent Vanguard from loading is to either rename the file or uninstall it.
Vanguard “contains a driver component called vgk.sys (similar to other anti-cheat systems),” Riot Games say, and is “the reason why a reboot is required after installing”. This supposedly stops cheaters from bypassing anti-cheat systems, through running the driver at the system startup.
There are questionable security concerns as Redditors have pointed out. The studio has explored “multiple external security research teams” to make sure the anti-cheat system is impenetrable. Riot Games also want to make sure the game is also safe from hackers.
Riot Games have reassured players that Vanguard does not process or send personal information. The rigid systems put into place are indeed to prevent cheaters from taking advantage of the game.
Are you playing Valorant? Hit the comments sections below and let us know what you think.