Bitcoins, security and integrity

[aluminati]

There have many several threads so far spreading misinformation which is why we have been deleting them. Over three years ago the previous client developer installed a bitcoin miner into the ESEA client. More details can be found out about that here:
https://play.esea.net/index.php?s=news&d=comments&id=12692

However, no one involved in that incident is still working in any capacity in the company. Since then we've taken the product to a completely new level growing from 15,000 subscribers then to around 75,000 now. Since our purchase by ESL last year your safety has never been a higher priority.

Over the past year the cheat community has grown increasingly sophisticated with their techniques to circumvent VAC, ESEA, and other anti-cheat tools. In the past there have been multiple instances of high profile players being caught cheating online and based on the data we’ve analyzed over several months, it’s our strong belief that there continue to be factions of players using cheats to gain an unfair competitive advantage.

The latest generation of cheats, which are designed similarly to many computer viruses, gain an advantage when loading before anti-cheat tools. It’s customary at live tournaments to not even allow players to connect thumb drives or other USB enabled devices out of fear that an illegal cheat could be used. After much deliberation and under the careful guidance of legal, security, and privacy experts, the ESEA Client takes a more active and aggressive approach, similar to the publicly available anti-virus software, to monitoring the activities around Counter-Strike in order to combat these efforts.

We have worked closely with professional counsel to create transparent disclosures about the invasive nature of the Client and define clear and appropriate internal security protocols to protect our users from unauthorized access of Client and user data.

We understand these extra security layers might make some uneasy, but it is our firm belief this is a necessary step to protect our customers who seek the fairest environment for online Counter-Strike game play.

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Frequently Asked Questions:
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Are you looking at my browsing history and bank information?


The ESEA Client only monitors activities that take place in and around our supported games. Accessing your bank account or any personal websites you browse daily, even while a supported game is in use, are not a part of what the Client is monitoring.

Are my personal files safe?


The ESEA Client only accesses files which may be used to aid in the cheating process. Sensitive personal data is not being monitored or scanned.

Who can access our anti-cheat data?


Only members of our exclusive anti-cheat team will have any access to the stored anti-cheat data. We deploy strict protocols and have worked with privacy and security experts to make sure your data remains private. General and League administrators do NOT have access to any of this information.

Why is the ESEA Client “Always On”?


Much like the leading anti-virus software, which are always running to prevent or detect viruses, the ESEA Client is running to prevent or detect cheats that may be running on a computer. This “Always On” feature is a necessary layer for the ever evolving cheaters we as a community face.

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Please keep all discussion about this topic in this thread, we will be locking any other threads and I will try to answer any concerns you have.

[KripTed]

Opprinnelig skrevet av barbaresh:

Opprinnelig skrevet av KripTed:

so have other companies and organizations. even your beloved Microsoft has embedded spyware and malware into your operating system. welcome to 2016.



yet i felt like i had less cheaters than in Valves MM. keyword resigned. meaning he doesn't work there anymore, for that sole reason. why fire a guy based on that? and then continue to conduct the process? someone go decompile the software and see.

i've been monitoring my hardware ever since i've used ESEA, not once has it seemed to be doing anything wrong to my GPU n etc.

Beware of this man/woman he/she deffends the client (ESEA) in a wierd way

i am a man, i defend this product because it seems to work. have not had any problems with it. i've encountered more problems and lost more hair playing on Valves MM than ESEA's.

[junger gott]

Opprinnelig skrevet av KripTed:

Opprinnelig skrevet av barbaresh:

Beware of this man/woman he/she deffends the client (ESEA) in a wierd way

i am a man, i defend this product because it seems to work. have not had any problems with it. i've encountered more problems and lost more hair playing on Valves MM than ESEA's.

+1 THEY DIDNT EVEN USE IT

[equalizer]

not sure why it has so many bad comments. yes the old client developer did bit coin for abit and he was caught and fired. u realize how many idiots do this, pretty much all of those csgo skin gambling sites are getting caught, people make mistakes. ESEA is still the best place to be to get better and learn more. and its super rare if u actually ever play against a cheater. does happen but its so rare. ive been playin on esea for over 5+. and i cant remember playing against one ever. but who cares if you dont wanna try it out ur loss. if u plan on wanting to play competitive CS, this is the only place to do that in NA. everywhere else is crap. good luck.

[ReaganSMAAAAASH]

Putting aside the somewhat deceptive and dishonest past of ESEA (the whole Bitcoin ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥), the real problem with ESEA, and many other anti-cheat software is that they are essentially a rootkit. Technically, it's not at any fault to those who engineer the software, it's just an unintended capability of it. Whether or not ESEA specifically intends to be malicious, by installing this software, or any other 3rd party software that enables circumvention of security in order to properly function, ESEA opens up your computer to other vulnerabilities.

All it takes is one intelligent person to find a vulnerability within ESEA and exploit it. The design of this software in of itself bypasses security functions in order to do its intended job and having a rootkit installed is basically like having a backdoor into your system with no locks on it. Stick to VAC.

And to the moderator/software developer of ESEA, I by no means say any of this to marginalize your efforts to combat cheating and exploitation in popular video games. All I care about is that those who install 3rd party software that bypasses built in OS security functions in order to operate properly are informed of the risks they take. Transparency..

[Canadian]

now maybe im just not awake...or just not thinking atm of my typing this....so this anti-cheat program...helps catch other people as I play? or does it only make sure that i dont cheat?

[junger gott]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Canadian:

now maybe im just not awake...or just not thinking atm of my typing this....so this anti-cheat program...helps catch other people as I play? or does it only make sure that i dont cheat?

If you cheat, ull get banned, if thats ur question :D, but if u are esea banned for cheating, doesnt mean u are vac banned ^^

[ReaganSMAAAAASH]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Towelie:

Opprinnelig skrevet av Canadian:

now maybe im just not awake...or just not thinking atm of my typing this....so this anti-cheat program...helps catch other people as I play? or does it only make sure that i dont cheat?

If you cheat, ull get banned, if thats ur question :D, but if u are esea banned for cheating, doesnt mean u are vac banned ^^

Considering how cheap keys can be purchased for popular games, no one cares about VAC bans.. it cuts cheating down significantly for a day or two after the mass bans, and then people make new accounts, acquire cheap steam keys, and are right back at it. Hooooooray for never solving this problem!

[Levi]

Lol the only guy defending it has a vac ban.

[Chivalry]

@aluminati Claiming that it is necessary that your program is always on is a blatant lie. There is no real need for it to be on when ppl are not playing anything trough the client.

Only reason you want it to be always on is to monitor what ppl do when they are not playing games using your client, and that sounds like datamining to me.

[Tincup_the_Middleman]

To everyone who installed it. I would be very worried. Trusting a company after a mess like that is at BEST a gamble. GL to all who did.

[Uncle Moe]

You're a dumb ass if you think that matters. Your company did shady ♥♥♥♥, people have a right to know. Don't continue to use their name if you don't wnat to be associated with them. Don't delete information, it only incriminates you.

This attempt to deflect criticism is pathetic. Thankfully you can't remove the Steam reviews that out you for the crooks you are.

[Crashed]

Opprinnelig skrevet av Uncle Moe:

You're a dumb ass if you think that matters. Your company did shady ♥♥♥♥, people have a right to know. Don't continue to use their name if you don't wnat to be associated with them. Don't delete information, it only incriminates you.

This attempt to deflect criticism is pathetic. Thankfully you can't remove the Steam reviews that out you for the crooks you are.

Steam reviews can still be reported to Steam Support.

[Tiger]

Opprinnelig skrevet av AGENTMOO:

Opprinnelig skrevet av Michelle:

Oh cool my reply to this comment got deleted mysteriously, yet you're preaching for transparency with the community. I won't even bother commenting outside of reviews because you obviously won't play fair.

Well, it is technically spyware. Whether or not it's good or bad spyware is the debate.

I think it's as trustworthy as any of the major antivirus vendors.

If you base your trust on how much the company is worth then:

MTG's net worth of aprox $120 million. (Company age: 28 years)
Symantec's (norton antivirus) aprox net worth of $165.6 million. (Company age: 26 years)


**Sources:

https://companycheck.co.uk/company/02228654/MODERN-TIMES-GROUP-MTG-LIMITED/summary

https://companycheck.co.uk/company/ie159355/SYMANTEC-LIMITED/summary

symantec has been busted repeatedly for producing and releasing malware so that they could be the first ones with a definition to remove them. Their software is sub-par and most of the money they make is through corproate contracts. F-Secure, Kapersky, Bit-Defender, Avast, and Malware-Bytes have all performed better than Symantec for over a decade.

AWIL (AVAST) has a substantially higher market-share and decidely less morally corrupt business practices.

MTG is a swedish media company, no clue why you even put them in here.

ESEA has been around since the early 2000's and has been ♥♥♥♥ and laden with spyware since the early 2000's. There has been more than one bitcoin scandal, spanning 2012-2015 maybe longer- ESEA doesn't detect cheats for ♥♥♥♥. (Really funny fail here, ESEA fails to detect cheats caught by VAC: http://www.pcgamer.com/csgo-competitive-scene-embroiled-in-hacking-scandal-as-three-players-are-banned/ ) being outperformed by VAC (which is supposed to be their main selling point) pretty much breaks any reason to use them.

Even worse they're going through deleting any negative comments calling them out on their own crap. So in before this comment is deleted as well.

[Revilo*]

My anti virus (AVG) picked up ESEA client as a Trojan and put several esea files in quarantine. A bit worrying. Also, when I play on esea I get fps drops and generally poorer performance than mm or faceit which makes no sense. AND I can't minimize the game when I'm playing CS in esea or the game just insta closes with no warning. Sometimes, generally about 1 or 2 times a night, CS will just close and take me to the desktop mid game with no warning. ESEA client hates windows 10, anti virus and my computer.
A bit annoying, but apart from having to uninstall my anti virus completely and put up with the poor client it's a generally good service but far from perfect. Faceit is 100% free if you dont want premium and arguably of very similar quality.

[useless puppy]

So you paying that $1million in fines for bit coin mining was all a dream?