Valve Anti-Cheat

Valve Anti-Cheat
Developer(s)	Valve
Initial release	2002
Operating system	Windows, macOS, Linux
Platform	Windows, Linux
Type	Anti-cheat software
License	Proprietary
Website	Official website

Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) is an anti-cheat tool developed by Valve as a component of the Steam platform, first released with Counter-Strike in 2002.

When the software detects a cheat on a player's system, it will ban them in the future, possibly days or weeks after the original detection.^[1] It may kick players from the game if it detects errors in their system's memory or hardware. No information such as date of detection or type of cheat detected is disclosed to the player. After the player is notified, access to online "VAC protected" servers of the game the player cheated in is permanently revoked and additional restrictions are applied to the player's Steam account.

During one week of November 2006, the system detected over 10,000 cheating attempts.^[2]

During the month of December 2018 over 600,000 accounts were banned.^[3]

^ Cite error: The named reference bandelay-length was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Cite error: The named reference 10k-banned was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Boudreau, Ian (January 6, 2019). "Valve banned a record number of players in December". PCGamesN. Retrieved September 25, 2021.

[bandelay-length-1] Cite error: The named reference bandelay-length was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[10k-banned-2] Cite error: The named reference 10k-banned was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[3] Boudreau, Ian (January 6, 2019). "Valve banned a record number of players in December". PCGamesN. Retrieved September 25, 2021.

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