It runs at admin rights and I don’t know what it does.
Besides having the game as usual. I don’t know if it’s malicious or not.
Game over right there. No matter what it does or doesn't do today, you never know what they'll push in the next update, or when ownership changes hands. I'd never run a game with admin rights.
You basically have three options:
- Cross your fingers and pray that the game company isn't going to do anything malicious to your machine
- Keep your gaming PC completely isolated from your private data
- Accept that you won't be able to play some competitive games, or the competitive modes of some games (eg. the default CounterStrike multiplayer runs with usermode anticheat, but competitive matchmakers like FaceIt require you to install a kernel-level anticheat)
My wish is that multiplayer games would have the option to play on servers with anti-cheat and servers without anti-cheat. If my memory serves correctly, that is kind of how Microsoft's Halo: Master Chief Collection is, at least when played on the Steam Deck. While I don't like the entire experience (e.g., having to use a MS account), at least optional anti-cheat is a plus.
FWIW I typically choose option 2 - keeping the gaming PC separate from anything important.
Furthermore, it's funny when people cry about how kernel anticheats are invading their privacy. These anticheats are better secured and protected than 99% of the drivers for windows, which are FULL of kernel elevation exploits. Absolutely filled to brink. I could go into it more, but this thread isn't the place.
- It might detect the sandbox and refuse to run the game
- If more seriously malicious, it might quietly escape the sandbox at first opportunity - say, a sandbox-escape exploit which the game provider obtains before the user can/does install the security patch
If it's an indie game, it won't be checking if it's in a sandbox.
History has proven this to be false. Recall the sony rootkit scandal.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_BMG_copy_protection_rootk...
Also, didn't zoom do something somewhat shady with admin permissions and self-updating? I'm not sure how you arrived at the conclusion that this couldn't happen today.
My claim was simple. If it's a game from a big studio, it won't have a keylogger. This is simply true and has been true for a long time. If that changes, we will hear about it.
> My claim was simple. If it's a game from a big studio, it won't have a keylogger.
Your "claim" is actually a prediction, and I would bet against it with a less-vague definition of "big" and a long enough time period. It's certainly not a fact, which is how you present it.