Hackers keep hardening the work of video game developers. According to ethical hacking specialists, the hacker group identified as CODEX managed to completely remove the Denuvo and VMProtect security systems from the game Assassin’s Creed Origins, leaving a version without these Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems.
The Denuvo protection system has become almost a standard in the video game industry, as developer companies implement it to protect their new products from piracy for at least a couple of months after its release. This doesn’t always work, as some hackers take just a couple of days to break protection, creating security holes that allow them to bypass the system to run pirated copies of the games.
However, this occasion is different, as ethical hacking experts say that hackers managed to completely remove the protection system with the intention of verifying whether Denuvo actually affects the performance of a video game. The hackers delivered this released version to some users on the Internet, who will have to test it to determine the real impact of the implementation of this system on a video game.
In the past, thousands of “gamers” have shown their dissatisfaction with the use of Denuvo, arguing that its implementation increases the use of console resources, generates lower performance in graphics aspects of the game, and increases latency. What is true is that, as a part of the game, Denuvo increases the files weight, although some users doubt whether it actually reduces the graphic quality of the game.
Removing these protection systems is a really complex task, and to achieve this, hackers had to remove VMProtect and Denuvo entry points from the executable, repairing data files and game code.
According to specialists in ethical hacking from the International Institute of Cyber Security (IICS) Denuvo is one of the most widely used video game crack protection tools today and, because it is installed directly in the code, it is runs as one more element of the game, hence the complexity of eliminating it, not just finding a way to bypass it.
He is a well-known expert in mobile security and malware analysis. He studied Computer Science at NYU and started working as a cyber security analyst in 2003. He is actively working as an anti-malware expert. He also worked for security companies like Kaspersky Lab. His everyday job includes researching about new malware and cyber security incidents. Also he has deep level of knowledge in mobile security and mobile vulnerabilities.
