ALBAWABA - Riot Games recently made headlines after putting up a $100,000 bounty to any individual willing to crack its infamous Vanguard anti-cheat engine, which is best known for its effectiveness and for being in one of the world's most played competitive games, Valorant.
Despite being known for Valorant, the anti-cheat program has also been used in other Riot Games titles including League of Legends and Teamfight Tactics since 2024. Riot Games received a swarm of negative comments and backlash when the giant company launched Vanguard.
"Cheater detected" Riot Games is offering a $100,000 bounty on hackers
Why? The anti-cheat program launches automatically when gamers turn on their PC resulting in claims from users that Vanguard is "predatory" and contains spyware.
In its terms of use, Riot Games claims, "Riot Vanguard was made with Riot Games' dedication to data privacy specifically in mind, and we worked with our legal and compliance teams to ensure it adheres to regional data privacy laws."
The rewards range from $500 to $100,000 depending on how drastic the bug is and it targets ethical hackers to find vulnerabilities and exploits in Riot's already heavy cheat engine. The move comes as part of ensuring fair play and a better experience for users playing its games.
Offering $100,000 shows how much Riot trusts Vanguard compared to other games like Call of Duty running 'Ricochet' which is currently suffering from a swarm of cheaters.
Riot posted the bounty on HackerOne and according to the website, here's how much an individual can earn depending on the vulnerabilities and exploits they find:
