Cheating is rife in online gaming and always has been. And game publishers do what they can to try and combat cheating with anti-cheat systems and player reports, but plenty still slip through the cracks. It’s not exactly new, but the topic of using 2 factor authentication to prevent hacking in gaming, has been brought back into the spotlight.
2 factor authentication (2FA) is normally a great way to secure your online accounts. It adds an extra layer of security on top of your username and password. It consists of also entering a one time pass code (OTP), usually a 6 digit number, that’s only viable for a limited period of time.
2FA can be set up via a few methods, SMS, email, authenticator app or USB security key. This will generally consist of you registering your account to something that’s unique to you. Like a device you own, your phone for example. And when you login to your account, your device is sent a OTP and you use that to login as well as your username and password.
It works on the premise that only you have access to that device, therefore no one else should have access the to login codes and never be able to login to your accounts. Over the years it’s become the standard for online personal security and most social media platforms support it. If you haven’t started using it yet, I’d recommend you do.
Now we see in the gaming industry, some publishers are asking gamers to register an active phone number when creating an account to play their games. This adds an extra layer of identification on top of the usual details given. What that means for anyone who’s caught cheating and gets a ban, they won’t be able to simply just set up a new account with a different email address, which was the go-to move beforehand. Their phone number is attached to the account, meaning they’d need to get another phone number. If they try and set up a new account using that phone number again it will be flagged as having been banned and they won’t be able to use it.
We saw this introduced a few years ago with CS:GO, a game that’s always had its fair share of cheaters. Valve, the publishers of Counter-Strike, introduced a new matchmaking system called ‘Prime’, that allowed players to match-make with other players who had also linked their phone number to their account. If you were caught cheating then your CS:GO account got banned, as did any other Valve account attached to that phone number and if you tried to purchase CS:GO again with that phone number as part of your details, you would be blocked from doing so.
Call of Duty brought 2FA back into the spotlight recently introducing it as a method to deter hackers in Modern Warfare’s Battle Royale game mode, Warzone. Warzone has been a hit since it dropped, as well as being free-to-play, it added an interesting take on the genre by adding features such as buying Loadout Drops, buying team mates back in and also fighting your way back into the game from the Gulag.
But just as any other online game, Warzone has faced with its own issue with hackers. This resulted in a ban wave from the developers, Infinity Ward. They reported back in April, they were banning 70,000 hackers from their game.
We've now issued over 70,000 bans worldwide to protect #Warzone from cheaters. We're continuing to deploy dedicated security updates and work continues on improving in-game reporting. We'll share more details soon. We are watching. We have zero tolerance for cheaters.
— Infinity Ward (@InfinityWard) April 13, 2020
They then took it one step further. Last week Infinity Ward started using 2FA as an extra measure to stop cheating in Warzone. Any new PC player to set up a Warzone account will need to attach a phone number to that account. For example, if someone were to be caught cheating and given a ban, and then try to set up another account afterwards, their phone number would be flagged and that would prevent them from playing the game again.
Security Update: We have initiated two-step SMS authentication for new #Warzone PC users, who log in as free to play as another step to provide an additional layer of security for players.
— Infinity Ward (@InfinityWard) May 12, 2020
To me personally I think this is a great idea. Cheating creates a bad user experience for the players and the more game publishers can do to combat it. the better. 2 factor authentication has already become a standard in almost every social media platform and the support for it always growing. Maybe we’ll see that continue to grow in the games industry also?