Denuvo Anti-Cheat: Why we chose to use a Windows kernel-mode driver in our solution - Irdeto Insights

Here at Irdeto we love gaming and understand the concerns around installing games that require kernel-mode access.

You might not know this but some of the most popular games, such as Fortnite, Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds, Rainbow Six Siege, Apex Legends and VALORANT all use kernel-mode anti-cheat solutions.

Our goal at Denuvo is to make gaming fair and fun again without compromising the personal privacy of the players. In order to achieve that goal and stay true to our values, we have evaluated our security options and opted to deliver our solution in the kernel.

We understand running the driver component in kernel-mode can raise concerns, and that some of you want to know more about the reasons we chose to deliver Denuvo Anti-Cheat in the kernel. So, to address your concerns, we have put together a Q&A to provide some facts and answers.

Specifically, we look at:

• What a kernel-mode driver is
• Why anti-cheat solutions use kernel-mode
• How Windows defends gamers from malicious kernel-mode drivers
• The risks to a gamer’s privacy
• The differences between Denuvo Anti-Cheat and some other anti-cheat solutions in the market
• The risks of a hacker taking over a gamer’s machine through kernel-mode drivers
• If kernel-mode anti-cheat solutions pollute a gamer’s machine.

The Denuvo team is always available to answer questions or comments – feel free to reach out to us here!