Abstract: The invention is directed to detecting and taking action against unauthorized behavior, such as cheating, committed by a participant in a networked game. A game client receives from an anti-cheat server one or more encrypted blocks containing executable code and computer-readable data. The anti-cheat server transmits a series of challenges, at periodic or randomly-determined intervals, to the game client. A challenge includes instructions regarding the decryption and manipulation of a black box. The anti-cheat server monitors responses, if any, by the game client to the challenges, and determines whether the game client is engaged in unauthorized behavior. The nature of a challenge is such that the player is not easily able to determine or predict whether the challenge actually performs a meaningful cheat-detection procedure, whether the challenge is identical to a challenge received by another player, and whether the challenge is substantially the same as a previously-received challenge.

Abstract: The invention is directed to detecting and taking action against unauthorized behavior, such as cheating, committed by a participant in a networked game. A game client receives from an anti-cheat server one or more encrypted blocks containing executable code and computer-readable data. The anti-cheat server transmits a series of challenges, at periodic or randomly-determined intervals, to the game client. A challenge includes instructions regarding the decryption and manipulation of a black box. The anti-cheat server monitors responses, if any, by the game client to the challenges, and determines whether the game client is engaged in unauthorized behavior. The nature of a challenge is such that the player is not easily able to determine or predict whether the challenge actually performs a meaningful cheat-detection procedure, whether the challenge is identical to a challenge received by another player, and whether the challenge is substantially the same as a previously-received challenge.