Epic Games is working on an overhaul of their Easy Anti-Cheat for Linux. A significant technical bottleneck for Linux PC gamers is about to be removed as Epic will be overhauling their Easy Anti-Cheat system for Linux. The first live deployment test for this new environment will be Fortnite, which is an indicator towards increasing support for the open-source OS in their games. This is significant because it is moving the security burden away from custom kernel modules and towards standard Linux security. That can reduce potential hurdles for future porting efforts.
Fortnite serves as the initial live test for the new anti-cheat system
The heart of this effort will be the new EAC Linux v2. An implementation of the anti-cheat system for Linux specifically. Not just an implementation of the Windows version. As stated by Epic Games, they are re-building from the ground up to work in the Linux architecture. One of the big focuses of this work will be Fortnite as a primary live test deployment. Used to test the stability and security of this new system before rolling out for other games.
Instead of installing a traditional kernel module, EAC Linux v2 will be leveraging existing security measures in Linux. Things such as signed kernels and signed kernel modules. It will use Secure Boot with Attestation. TPM 2.0, measured boot, IOMMU, kernel lockdown, and BPF LSM. It will run as a systemd service and use eBPF programs. This means it can enforce security policies without heavy kernel integration. All of this falls in line with modern Linux security practices. It will also be less likely to cause system instability.
Epic Games is working with distribution maintainers to bring more Linux distributions up to these security measures by default. A native Linux preview build of the Epic Games launcher has been released to facilitate this effort and testing. They have the technical elements in place but no mention of which Linux distributions they are working with. Likewise, there is no public timetable for this to come out as they are currently focusing on the testing for Fortnite.
As previously mentioned Epic Games Seeks Engineer to Champion. That was our coverage of the Epic Games hiring for Linux anti-cheat abilities. This is a real-world step beyond that hiring process. It's moving from hiring to software implementation. Now there's a native Linux preview build to give people access to. You can participate in the testing phase, but there's no public timeline for this release.
Source: TweakTown
Discussion
0 comments