WASHINGTON, D.C., USA and GENEVA, SWITZERLAND–2 February 2010–In a paper scheduled to be presented at the upcoming 17th Annual Network and Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS 2010), Darrell Bethea, Robert Cochran, and Michael Reiter of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill describe a technique they have developed to identify cheating in the rapidly growing, multi-billion dollar industry of online gaming which includes titles such as World of Warcraft. The full paper will be published in the NDSS Proceedings.

Cheating through the use of non-sanctioned client software compromises the gaming experience for players and undermines the revenue of game developers and operators. The approach outlined in the paper to be presented at NDSS 2010 could help ensure the integrity of the online gaming experience by providing an automated, alternative approach to current, manually programmed methods of identifying game cheats. The described approach is server-based and does not increase the required bandwidth, often a critical expense for game operators.
Continue reading →