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[Potential Utility] Anti-Hack Software - Page 5

Forum Index > SC2 General
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neSix
Profile Blog Joined November 2004
United States1772 Posts
June 10 2012 07:05 GMT
#81
You are totally awesome for spending your time to do this. I don't have much to contribute to this thread but I just wanted to thank you for your hard work and I look forward to a time where your anti-hack launcher will allow us to play online-only tournaments on a fair level! You rock!!
ELA
Profile Joined April 2010
Denmark4608 Posts
June 10 2012 07:45 GMT
#82
Uncertain if you have done this yet, but have you tried running the Spades-replays through this?

Awesome work btw, big props!
The first link of chain forged, the first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably.
algorithm0r
Profile Joined May 2010
Canada486 Posts
June 10 2012 07:48 GMT
#83
This is silly. Blizzard does the best they can. No system you come up with will detect all hacks. If you release this anti-hack software in 2 days there will be a hack that confuses your software. Hell they could make a hack that takes advantage of your anti-hack software.

This is the same problem that anti-virus software has. No matter what detection upgrades you make it will be out done by hackers in 2 days. The resources of the hackers will always outstrip that of Blizzard.

The real secret is to make sure that hacking has no benefit. The first step to that is to convince the community that the ladder and ladder points are useless so don't cry over them. Second, tournament organizers must take their responsibilities to prevent hacking more seriously since Blizzard cannot.
ClysmiC
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States2192 Posts
June 10 2012 07:58 GMT
#84
sooo.... you should test your app with some Spades replays. Spades was saying he wished there was hack-detection software that could clear his name, right?
JackDT
Profile Joined January 2012
724 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-06-10 08:03:10
June 10 2012 07:59 GMT
#85
On June 10 2012 05:16 GhostFiber wrote:
Show nested quote +
On June 06 2012 06:20 JackDT wrote:
Any CS majors in here?

Download many maphacks. Play a bunch of games on them using every effort to hide that you are, but still trying to win. Train a machine learning system on the maphack replays.

I wouldn't be shocked if there is some tipoff that could be 100% accurate since the maphack is interacting with the keys stores in the replay in order to do the view freezes and hide looking into the fog.


Very possible.

But I think a smarter idea would be, make a really amazing maphack. (LeMap) and have it harvest replays from the hackers. That way your information set would be all races, leagues, and thousands of wins and losses.


You mean in the maphack software itself? That's a little too Machiavellian. You might as well just harvest the user names and then bust everyone using your program at some point in the future.

But I do think there is a great chance to find a 100% test. Like that reddit guy who theorized about the accuracy on the minimap and how maybe the screen clicks didn't align correctly when the maphack was holding your view still. Didn't work out, but a general purpose learning analysis could find a similar smoking gun.

Whether there is any hack detection in place, or any way to analyse replays, what the community should be doing right now is keeping an archive of all replays from every online tournament and qualifier. Just dump them somewhere they are small enough. If at some point in the future a technique is discovered which reveals hacking behavior then players can be busted and it doesn't matter if they patch the maphack at the point -- the damage is already done. This is how many were caught by TL in Brood War.
Nightwatch
Profile Joined March 2011
13 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-06-10 08:19:12
June 10 2012 08:09 GMT
#86
On June 10 2012 13:56 Defeat wrote:
Go for it, better anticheat is always a good thing.

Show nested quote +
On June 06 2012 00:51 Nightwatch wrote:
Many people probably don't want to play tournaments if they have to download a software.

100% not true, many tournaments/ladders for games have you download programs that check for cheats or help log games. If this comes out and is decent, it will get picked up by any tournament wanting to improve their image. I'd say it would actually draw people to the tournament.


Just because people playing tournaments with such software doesn't mean that there are many that don't. It's kinda like some people not buying BF3 because of origin.

From my point of view why would I run a pointless piece of software. No offence but there is no way people can't bypass any clientside protection.
For other ideas like replay analysis you don't need clientside software. Thought I can't see this working well unless the hack is utterly obvious. Let alone that 20 or less replays are a far to small number and what happens if I send in a manipulated replay. Yeah, getting my opponent banned is good stuff.
DeadBabySeal
Profile Joined December 2011
United States3 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-06-11 00:08:48
June 10 2012 08:44 GMT
#87
Ideas like this always have one massive flaw. Creating a client-side anti-cheat program for a game like Starcraft 2 is, quite literally, impossible. As long as I maintain administrative access to my machine, there's nothing your anti-hack application can do to stop me from cheating.

Go ahead and make your program. Get its use required by all online tournaments. Guess what? Hackers will hook your system calls and return whatever your program expects to see. If your application is written in a managed language like Java or C#, the job will be even easier. Further, if your application is Open Source all bets are completely off (and to be frank, I'm not running a community developed anti-hack program on my computer if I can't see the source. Nope nope nope.).

At the end of the day, there are extremely few 100% reliable ways to detect hacks. Limited replay analysis happens to be one of those - if a player is performing actions that are physically impossible (e.g., blinking individual stalkers while his camera is somewhere else) then you can be certain something is wrong. Beyond that, there will never be a 100% foolproof method of hack detection, ever. As long as people retain physical access to the computers running the game, the only thing stopping someone from hacking is lack of expertise and time.

If anything, I am actually worried that this will make the maphacker's lives easier. They will be able to continue using hacks, but when questioned they can point to your application and say "See look, I'm not hacking, you can be sure because I'm running the community's anti-hack too1!"
Dingodile
Profile Joined December 2011
4139 Posts
June 10 2012 08:51 GMT
#88
I remember that wc3-pro ReminD used such anti-cheat programm at Bnet 1.0 ladder and was banned by Blizzard.
Grubby | ToD | Moon | Lyn | Sky
Na_Dann_Ma_GoGo
Profile Joined March 2010
Germany2959 Posts
June 10 2012 09:14 GMT
#89

Maphack Detection:
This would check the position of the opponent's camera for known maphack signs. Fog of war peeking is easy to detect. The "screen lock" feature that some maphacks use would be even easier to detect.

If a user is flagged as suspicous then the person running the anti-hack software can be advised to watch the replay when the game is finished.

If both parties are running the software then camera positions of each player can be compared to make sure they match. Even if general hack detection is bypassed, this will reveal users using screen lock while fog of war peaking


Yeh well that won't work well. How is that even remotely reliable? Testing for user behavior is almost never more than some part of indication. "Fog of War peeking is easy to detect" - and doesn't necessarily mean ANYTHING, you should add that.
Because I must imagine most users do look at the fog of war every now and then. Sometimes just to issue move commands, to have a look at structure placement etc. of your opponent's base, send a scouting worker, or what I do for example, to set camera hotkeys.
For example in a 2 player map I'll always set one of my camera hotkeys to the other mains location, so that I can tab there quickly. Then what? Will I get flagged as potential maphacker every time I do this? If you don't want this you have to add exceptions like "don't count the first few minutes" and similar stuff, which in return actually makes this program totally pointless to begin with.

The only reliable way to prevent maphacks is complete server side calculations where you don't just distribute movement input etc. However that's not really possible in Starcraft 2 due to the very high amount of units for example.

You program won't work on a lot of hacks, and when that's the case, why should anyone bother installing it, which in itself could be considered a risk?
WrathBringerReturns said: No no no. Sarcasm is detected in the voice. When this forum is riddled with stupidity, you think I can tell every post apart? Fair enough it was intended sarcastically, was it obvious? Of course not.
Doodsmack
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United States7224 Posts
June 11 2012 17:26 GMT
#90
Even if a client side program is easily circumvented, what about remote automated replay analysis?
TibblesEvilCat
Profile Joined March 2010
United Kingdom766 Posts
June 11 2012 17:27 GMT
#91
blizzards patch give them permission to scan your pc. with new agreement.
Live Fast Die Young :D
Doodsmack
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United States7224 Posts
June 11 2012 17:32 GMT
#92
On June 10 2012 17:44 DeadBabySeal wrote:
Ideas like this always have one massive flaw. Creating a client-side anti-cheat program for a game like Starcraft 2 is, quite literally, impossible. As long as I maintain administrative access to my machine, there's nothing your anti-hack application can do to stop me from cheating.

Go ahead and make your program. Get its use required by all online tournaments. Guess what? Hackers will hook your system calls and return whatever your program expects to see. If your application is written in a managed language like Java or C#, the job will be even easier. Further, if your application is Open Source all bets are completely off (and to be frank, I'm not running a community developed anti-hack program on my computer if I can't see the source. Nope nope nope.).

At the end of the day, there are extremely few 100% reliable ways to detect hacks. Limited replay analysis happens to be one of those - if a player is performing actions that are physically impossible (e.g., blinking individual stalkers while his camera is somewhere else) then you can be certain something is wrong. Beyond that, there will never be a 100% foolproof method of hack detection, ever. As long as people retain physical access to the computers running the game, the only thing stopping someone from hacking is lack of expertise and time.

If anything, I am actually worried that this will make the maphacker's lives easier. They will be able to continue using hacks, but when questioned they can point to your application and say "See look, I'm not hacking, you can be sure because I'm running the community's anti-hack too1!"


Would love for a mod to do an ip check on your account given how suspicious it is lol.
Phanekim
Profile Joined April 2003
United States777 Posts
June 11 2012 17:53 GMT
#93
On June 10 2012 17:44 DeadBabySeal wrote:
Ideas like this always have one massive flaw. Creating a client-side anti-cheat program for a game like Starcraft 2 is, quite literally, impossible. As long as I maintain administrative access to my machine, there's nothing your anti-hack application can do to stop me from cheating.

Go ahead and make your program. Get its use required by all online tournaments. Guess what? Hackers will hook your system calls and return whatever your program expects to see. If your application is written in a managed language like Java or C#, the job will be even easier. Further, if your application is Open Source all bets are completely off (and to be frank, I'm not running a community developed anti-hack program on my computer if I can't see the source. Nope nope nope.).

At the end of the day, there are extremely few 100% reliable ways to detect hacks. Limited replay analysis happens to be one of those - if a player is performing actions that are physically impossible (e.g., blinking individual stalkers while his camera is somewhere else) then you can be certain something is wrong. Beyond that, there will never be a 100% foolproof method of hack detection, ever. As long as people retain physical access to the computers running the game, the only thing stopping someone from hacking is lack of expertise and time.

If anything, I am actually worried that this will make the maphacker's lives easier. They will be able to continue using hacks, but when questioned they can point to your application and say "See look, I'm not hacking, you can be sure because I'm running the community's anti-hack too1!"


pretty much this. being someone who's been in the community forever, even warden is limited.
i like cheese
DJFaqU
Profile Joined May 2011
466 Posts
June 11 2012 17:54 GMT
#94
Don't forget to do extensive testing with something like this to prevent false positives.
roxaroni
Profile Joined February 2012
United States1 Post
June 12 2012 11:35 GMT
#95
I've been thinking about coding something like this for a bit. My idea was a smurf detector for tournys. Users would have to run the tourny's application to be able to play and it would go through the sc2 files and pick out all accounts used on that computer. Now sure someone can delete all of that or claim it is a friend's account but I'll figure out something else for that.
“We are the product of 4.5 billion years of fortuitous, slow biological evolution. There is no reason to think that the evolutionary process has stopped. Man is a transitional animal. He is not the climax of creation.” - Carl Sagan
AiurOG
Profile Joined March 2011
United States98 Posts
June 14 2012 00:41 GMT
#96
For online low-level tournaments to thrive they need to have a constant, vigilantly updated anti-hack tool kit at their disposal
Johnnysc2
Profile Joined June 2012
United States4 Posts
June 14 2012 03:38 GMT
#97
Some guy on reddit says he's making anti-hack software and actually provided some alpha-level blink detection stuff.

Link
ZeromuS
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Canada13410 Posts
June 14 2012 03:43 GMT
#98
On June 14 2012 12:38 Johnnysc2 wrote:
Some guy on reddit says he's making anti-hack software and actually provided some alpha-level blink detection stuff.

Link


Well now we have an after the fact blink hack detector. Would need to test it against known non hackers (ie. Local play) of a very very good player to make sure it won't false positive.
StrategyRTS forever | @ZeromuS_plays | www.twitch.tv/Zeromus_
leculver
Profile Joined June 2012
United States5 Posts
June 14 2012 03:44 GMT
#99
On June 14 2012 12:38 Johnnysc2 wrote:
Some guy on reddit says he's making anti-hack software and actually provided some alpha-level blink detection stuff.

Link


Yo, some guy here. =P

I can't make a thread since I just created a TL account (long time lurker).

I'll be releasing full source as well (though if you are impatient you can just use reflector, it's really basic stuff). This is all pretty bleeding edge right now though.
leculver
Profile Joined June 2012
United States5 Posts
June 14 2012 03:52 GMT
#100
Well now we have an after the fact blink hack detector. Would need to test it against known non hackers (ie. Local play) of a very very good player to make sure it won't false positive.

There WILL be some false-positives. The false positives are in the form of "we saw a few blinks that match the pattern, but it was less than 40% of all blinks", for example.

There's a dead giveaway if the hack does all the work in one tick. Here's an example from http://idleengineer.com/blink.txt:

BLINK HACK DETECTED.

Total: 25 suspect: 23.
92% suspect blinks.

Suspect blinks at these times:
[snip]
00:16:03.562
00:16:03.562


As you can see, the hack is dumb enough to do things faster than any human can: Deselect, blink, attack-move, select, (twice!). All within the same game tick. My program doesn't currently check for this, but it will tomorrow.

Here's the blog post I detail what I'm doing to detect blink hacks: http://www.idleengineer.com/2012/06/13/to-catch-a-cheater-part-2-blink/

OP, feel free to steal this technique if you weren't doing so already. I plan on releasing full source soon-ish, though it's a very simple state-machine to detect the blink hack.

I also plan on working to detect a LOT more than just blink hacks. This is just the first thing we put together as a proof of concept.
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