Description
Cheats were always and will always be a part of gaming. Be it as a fun secret added to a game by a developer,
like the famous Konami code, or as a device for malicious actors to gain an advantage over other players in an
otherwise fair competition. While the first case needs no solution, the latter requires intricate anti-cheat
software to ensure no cheating actor interferes with a game. This thesis aims to define what cheating is and
gives a brief overview of how it affects players. Afterward, the strategies used by game hackers to develop
cheats are explored by discussing a self-developed cheat for a first-person shooter. With this knowledge, the
itsec-game is introduced. This game has provided a challenge for IT security students at TUM since 2020 and serves
to introduce topics like game hacking and reverse engineering. Such a game requires a unique anti-cheat that guides
the students to the intended solutions for each challenge while prohibiting more straightforward ones. We evaluate
its implementation and past performance against the students from the winter term 2021/2022. The findings are then
used to improve the anti-cheat by primarily adding a self-hashing schema and anti-debugging techniques to its implementation.
An additional task is added to the game, reflecting standard techniques game hackers use when searching for hidden game variables
during runtime.
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