RICOCHET: Anti-Cheat Progress Report – Launch Readiness, Machine Learning and New Features

As Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® III prepares for launch, RICOCHET: Anti-Cheat™ is ready to take on cheating with a more powerful and efficient system. By incorporating the latest Machine Learning technologies, RICOCHET has built upon the progress made by #TeamRICOCHET over the past two years.

By coupling Machine Learning with constantly developing client and server-side technology, we can improve the speed and precision of our preventive measures and identifying mechanisms.

In what way does #TeamRICOCHET employ machine learning?

Incorporating Machine Learning progressions into our technology has boosted our productivity and expediency in preventing, detecting, and eliminating cheaters. Our team's capabilities have been amplified by the integration of Machine Learning improvements, which include:

In essence, Machine Learning allows us to predict behavior more accurately and function with increased efficiency, while our team verifies the precision.

Machine Learning collaborates with our team, offering data to facilitate account judgments - however, Machine Learning systems do not impose prohibitions.

Using Machine Learning can enhance already existing tools. An instance of how we expedite our anti-cheat capabilities using Machine Learning is through the Replay tool.

The combination of Machine Learning and the Replay Investigation Tool is a powerful tool in today's digital age. By analyzing vast amounts of data, Machine Learning is able to identify trends, patterns, and connections that may not be readily apparent to human observation. This technology is particularly useful in identifying fraud or other criminal activities. The Replay Investigation Tool is a powerful tool for investigators. It allows them to replay digital interactions, such as voice or video calls, as well as web interactions like form submissions or clicks. It enables investigators to view those interactions from multiple angles, such as by analyzing the timing of the interactions or by looking at patterns in the data. When combined, Machine Learning and the Replay Investigation Tool can provide even greater insights into digital interactions. Machine Learning algorithms can help identify patterns that may be too subtle for human observation, while the Replay Investigation Tool can provide a more complete picture of those interactions. This combination can help investigators to identify fraudulent or criminal activity more quickly and with greater accuracy. Overall, the combination of Machine Learning and the Replay Investigation Tool is a powerful asset for investigators in today's digital age. With these tools in hand, they can more quickly and effectively identify and respond to fraudulent or criminal activities.

At the beginning of this year, we informed our audience about a tool for checking replays that gathered gameplay information which could then be turned into videos that our teams could watch to analyze players' matches for any inappropriate conduct. Since its initiation, this device has been advantageous. However, our team sought a new objective: acceleration.

Typically, a member of #TeamRICOCHET is capable of scrutinizing around 700 recordings in a day.

Certain instances are straightforward: the most obvious "rage hacking" is easily noticeable, but the Replay Investigation Tool proved useful in detecting hackers who utilized tools for a minor advantage that wasn't easily detectable during gameplay, like wall hacks.

To coincide with the release of Modern Warfare III, and for all games covered by RICOCHET: Anti-Cheat, #TeamRICOCHET is implementing Machine Learning techniques to enhance the effectiveness and potency of our anti-cheating endeavors.

The Replay Investigation Tool employs a model of Machine Learning that has been taught to detect questionable actions such as wall hacks or raging (among others). As soon as such behavior is identified, the team is notified immediately and the problem can be reviewed and handled accordingly. The model can scrutinize as many as 1,000 video clips per day on one computer alone, but when more computers are added to the equation, the capacity grows immensely.

We have only begun integrating Machine Learning into the Replay Investigation Tool, but we can't wait to see how it develops in the future. Our primary objective is to improve Ranked Play modes across all our games and thwart any attempts by players to manipulate the leaderboard unfairly.

Machine-learning has a number of benefits. One such benefit is its ability to identify and prioritize problems, enabling Team Ricochet to create fresh methods for preventing issues, detecting problems, and managing risks.

Introducing Splat Meet Splat – our newest addition to the team! This little guy may be small, but he's mighty and full of personality. We're excited to have him on board and can't wait for you to get to know him. Splat is a playful and curious cat who loves to explore and chase after toys. He's already made himself at home in the office, making friends with everyone he meets. Splat is a great addition to our team environment and provides a fun distraction during those long workdays. We're happy to have Splat as part of our team and believe he'll bring lots of joy and laughter into our lives. We look forward to seeing him grow and continue to brighten up our office!

Many times, if a person who is cheating is discovered in a game, they are swiftly removed from the playing experience. However, on some occasions, we have taken measures to reduce their negative influence on the game without making it publicly known, allowing us to gather more insight on their account and the device they were using to cheat. In Modern Warfare III multiplayer and Call of Duty: Warzone, we will continue to offer features such as cloaking and damage shield to enhance the player's experience.

Although we are hesitant to term it as an in-game Mitigation - due to its evident occurrence - we have formulated a new strategy to foil the activities of violators in Call of Duty: Warzone, which we have labelled as Splat.

When we catch a cheater on Splat, we have a way of dealing with them in a playful manner. Sometimes, we'll choose to deactivate their parachute unexpectedly, resulting in a thrilling descent directly into the ground.

What happens if we catch them once they set off? In that case, Splat has the ability to change the speed of the player, turning a simple jump into a deadly fall from 10,000 feet. This is only one of the various latest tactics that we have created - and we will talk about others in the near future.

Similar to other protective features, Splat won't activate itself for a player who hasn't been confirmed to be cheating. It won't turn on based on player reports and there's no chance of it being accidentally triggered while playing the game.

It's crucial for us to advocate for all our players, including ourselves. We understand that you trust our systems when you witness them actively safeguarding your gameplay. Our players value visual cues, which is why we introduced the RICOCHET Anti-Cheat logo to the kill feed several months ago. This enables gamers to witness the protective system in action while they play. The same goes for mitigations.

Even though it can be entertaining to irritate those who cheat in games, our objective is to halt them from even coming close to a game. Ceasing them from cheating is crucial for the ongoing development of RICOCHET: Anti-Cheat.

People who cheat in games often try to take shortcuts, and one of the methods they use is stealing other people's accounts. It is crucial to put 2FA on your account, which adds an extra layer of protection. Additionally, avoid using the same passwords for your Activision ID that you use for other websites or applications. When you reuse your passwords and connect it to your email, you become more vulnerable to having your account stolen.

During the year 2023, we successfully recognized more than 110,000 player accounts on the hidden part of the internet that were retrieved from replicated email and password collaborations. As an outcome, we have reset these accounts and handed them over to their respective owners to prevent any unauthorized usage of these accounts.

Discover the step-by-step process of activating 2FA on your Activision ID to boost your account's security.

Before the release of Modern Warfare III, #TeamRICOCHET has prohibited more than 80,000 accounts on Call of Duty: Warzone and Modern Warfare II, preventing these accounts from being able to play Modern Warfare III.

Another crucial aspect in the efforts to prevent hacks is the game code obfuscation and encryption. We provide each player with the game code (via the game executable) they need in order to play Call of Duty. The game executable consists of intricate directions that are necessary for the game to run smoothly. But by sending out the game executable, we are also sending out replicates of our house keys. Just think about the challenges of preventing an intruder who possesses duplicates of your keys from entering your home.

The RICOCHET Anti-Cheat squads are always putting in extra effort to enhance the security of the front door by coming up with advanced obfuscation methods so that the game code can't be easily analyzed by those who intend to cheat. Following this, we encrypt the entire Call of Duty executable, thereby ensuring that it's not easy to manipulate. As a result, the cheat developers find it quite challenging to analyze or modify the code, and they are unable to bypass the protections we've put in place.

The rise and fall of anti-cheating measures is a constant cycle.

If we try to prevent gamers from cheating, they adapt and search for different methods to cheat. The structure of multiplayer games, where our server communicates with your computer to coordinate gameplay, is where cheating can happen. However, we are working hard to prevent cheaters at every stage of this process by using advanced technology such as Machine Learning. This allows us to identify and address any unfair play from both the client and server-side systems.

In what ways do we utilize the reporting function for players? At our company, player reporting is an integral part of our operation. It enables users to alert us to any breaches of our terms of service or suspicious activity, ensuring that we can maintain a safe and fair playing environment for all. Our support staff reviews each report, and appropriate action is taken in response, such as suspending or banning offenders. We also keep track of reported users, analyzing patterns to identify potential issues and fine-tune our systems. We encourage our players to use the reporting function whenever they come across behavior that violates the rules or makes them feel uncomfortable. By doing so, they are helping us to maintain a positive gaming experience for everyone.

Many people think that reporting spam will lead to consequences for the accounts involved. However, we want to make it clear that our system only takes the first report into consideration, regardless of how many times a player reports another. So, multiple reports from the same player will not make a difference.

It's important to report accounts, but reporting alone isn't enough to take action. For instance, an account can't be blocked solely because of reporting. However, if the account has triggered several detections in addition to a report, the report could become a cause for concern.

We want to remind everyone that reporting spam could be seen as breaking the new Security and Enforcement Policy on "Malicious Reporting," which was put in place earlier in the year.

We, as players of various online multiplayer games including our own, are also disturbed by cheating problems. Our squad is committed to utilizing all the latest technologies, equipping our team with more information and resources, establishing new measures for prevention and detection, and taking every possible action to aggravate the cheaters who enter our games.

The fight never ends, but we promise to keep going.

This blog post is about the trademarks owned by Activision Publishing, Inc. in 2023. They own several trademarks including ACTIVISION, CALL OF DUTY, CALL OF DUTY WARZONE, MODERN WARFARE, and RICOCHET Anti-Cheat. Any other trademarks and trade names mentioned belong to their rightful owners.

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