• Riot Games announces a Bug Bounty Program for VALORANT’s anti-cheat Vanguard with rewards between $25,000 and $100,000
  
  
• Riot senior staff members reassure users that Vanguard does not collect of send any information about users’ computers back to Riot Games
  
  
• Vanguard can be uninstalled at any time however VALORANT will not run without the kernel level driver (vgk.sys) that comes with it.

The discovery of a kernel level driver (vgk.sys) used by VALORANT’s anti-cheat system Vanguard, has been at the centre of conversation (and concern) across the community since 14th April. One prominent YouTuber even went on to liken Vanguard to a rootkit! Today, Riot Games has published a statement addressing these concerns while essentially putting its money where its mouth is.

For the past six years, Riot Games has been running a Bug Bounty Program on HackerOne (a platform for hacker powered security that leverages the global hacker community to help companies identify and resolve potential vulnerabilities), through which it claims to have paid out nearly USD 2 Mn. Now, a special scope has been created for Vanguard vulnerabilities with even higher bounties. Users and security researchers that believe they might have found a flaw in VALORANT’s anti-cheat system can submit a report by sending an email to bugbounty@riotgames.com. The rewards range from $25,000 all the way up to $100,000 depending on the severity of the vulnerabilities.

Source: https://hackerone.com/riot 

(See Also: VALORANT’s Anti-Cheat System Could Be A Major Security And Privacy Risk For Your Computer)

The primary spokesperson for Riot Games through all of this has been Paul “Riot Arkem” Chamberlain, Programmer and Anti-Cheat Lead for VALORANT. The latest statement comes from a variety of Riot staff members including Chris Hymes (Data Protection Officer and Chief Information Security Officer), Mark Hillick (Director of Security), Clint Sereday (Anti-Cheat Product Lead), Daniel Hu (Data Privacy Product Lead) and Warren Kenny (Application Security Product Lead).

In addition to announcing the Bug Bounty Program, the statement also elaborates on the Riot Vanguard philosophy and its architecture. More importantly, it reiterates Riot Arkem’s previous message that the kernel level driver does not collect or send any information about users’ computers back to Riot Games and that the driver can be uninstalled at any time by removing “Riot Vanguard” from the add/remove programs menu. However VALORANT will not run without this driver.

Cover Image And Thumbnail Image Courtesy: Xilick

• VALORANT has announced guidelines for third-party tournament organizers in order to plan events confidently.
  
  
• All competitions will basically fall under one of the following three tiers small, medium, or large tournaments.
  
  
• The various tiers have been divided on the basis of factors like organizers, platform/scale, organizer goal, and riot's contribution.

With VALORANT taking initial steps towards building its esports ecosystem, in order to provide some guidance to third-party tournament organizers so they can understand their approach and plan events confidently, VALORANT esports team has established ‘Community Competition Guidelines.’

[Also Read: Riot Games Unveils Initial Steps Towards Building an Esports Ecosystem for VALORANT]

The first thing under these guidelines is the segregation of tournaments into various tiers like small, medium, and major tournaments. These tiers have been segregated on the basis of various factors like organizers, platform/scale, organizer goal, and riot's contribution.

Different Tournament Tiers for VALORANT Competitions

Small Tournaments

• Those organizing an event under this tier will not be requiring any sort of application as they will be granted a community license just by adhering to the above guidelines.
  
  
• These tournaments are allowed to use ‘VALORANT’ to promote their competition but not words like ‘Championship’, ‘Champions’, ‘Season’, or ‘League’. Usage of Riot logos or trademarks is also prohibited.
  
  
• The competition can be broadcasted online on any streaming platform, but the spectators watching online should not be charged and the chat section should be strictly moderated. Also, the ‘Show Blood’ setting must be toggled off.
  
  
• The yearly sponsorship value in a calendar year should not exceed more than $100,000.

Medium & Large Tournaments

• For such events, a license will be required from the Regional or Global Riot Esports team respectively.
  
  
• These tournaments are allowed to use ‘VALORANT’ to promote their competition but words like ‘Championship’, ‘Champions’, ‘Season’, or ‘League’ must not be used without prior approval. Usage of Riot logos or trademarks may be allowed for promotional use.
  
  
• Riot might also include some of these tournaments on the Riot Games Official Schedule, while also contributing to their overall prizepool.
  
  
• These tournaments have to abide by the broadcasting terms and conditions as per the license while continuing to moderate the chat and toggling off the ‘Show Blood’ setting. In addition to this, the promotion of Riot social media accounts should also be done during the broadcast.
  
  
• Riot may assist in monetizing these tournaments through sponsorships.

Note: The entire guideline document can be read by clicking here.

By setting up this ‘Competition Community Guideline’, VALORANT has started its transition towards becoming an esport title. Giving third-party organizers a good insight into what is expected from them, and how can they proceed to deliver the final product. Riot Games is keeping close control over the competitive scene while making sure that the process is transparent and fair.

[Also Read: VALORANT’s Anti-Cheat System Could Be A Major Security And Privacy Risk For Your Computer]

Let’s see how it flourishes as a fully-fledged competitive title in the coming months, and whether it actually turns out to be a threat for other shooter based esport titles or not.