BattlEye JUST GOT CAUGHT STEALING OUR INFORMATION !!!!!!!

BattlEye and privacy [ 03.06.2014 • 14:00 ]
Recently, due to a post created by a hack creator on Reddit, there have been concerns regarding the privacy of players using BE for their games.

We understand that many people might feel worried as a result of this post, but we want to make clear that we fully respect everyone's privacy and have no interest in getting access to any personal information (documents, passwords, etc.) stored on a user's PC. Our EULA clearly states that as well. However, it's true that BE can, from time to time, upload executable code (mainly .dll and .exe files) that has been flagged by certain hack-identifying scans to the BE master server for further analysis. This is sometimes required to effectively fight hacks and it should be noted that other anti-cheat systems (like VAC for example) can do the same. The post also states that we only did that after we started protecting the BE Client with a virtualizer so as to better hide our activities, which is simply false. We have been using such methods for many months.

It's also true that BE can dynamically execute code streamed from the BE master server. However, it should equally be understood that such a feature does not indicate evil intentions. The Reddit post does not mention the obvious logical fact that there is not a great difference between dynamic and static (file) updates. If we had evil intentions we could as well hide bad code in our protected/encrypted file updates without most people noticing. Therefore, if you don't trust us we would advise you to never use BE at all, which is obviously true for any software. This feature simply exists because it allows quick on-the-fly updates instead of releasing file updates every time a change is required. It should be noted that this feature is protected against attacks from outside, i.e. it's not possible for anyone to dynamically stream malicious code to your client for execution.

It was also stated that we threatened the author to not release any information regarding this (which happened after he posted it on a hacking forum). This is only true in the context of the criminal act / theft that took place to obtain this information. Like any other company we will not accept criminals hacking into our servers and stealing information from them. This is exactly what happened here and the author released screenshots of this stolen information. He is therefore colluding with the criminals and in a way acting as a henchman for them. On the other hand, we have no problem with the actual information itself as we have nothing to hide and don't have any evil intentions. However, we hope that our users understand that we generally do not announce our methods as that would only help the hacking community.

In conclusion, we want to emphasize again that we do everything with the sole purpose of detecting cheats/hacks and not to spy on users. We respect and protect the privacy of our users and while we understand that certain methods can be considered invasive, we hope that they can be understood as well.