For a game, the consequences of being hacked are the most serious. A game being hacked means that the code logic and resource files within the game have the possibility of being analysed and tampered with by hackers.
Game Security Risk Distribution Percentage Chart
Hacked version will damage the fairness of the game, causing a large loss of genuine players, damage to the revenue of the game party, and there is a risk that the code and art resources within the game will be stolen and dramatised.
As the intensity of game security confrontation increases, hacking methods have evolved into the form of combining static analysis and dynamic debugging. Hackers can conduct static analysis and dynamic debugging of the game by means of reverse analysis, and modify the logic of the game client code to create a hacked version.
Compared with cheats, the impact of hacking on the game is even worse. The production threshold of the game hack version in some of the tools under the auspices of more simple, through frida, IDA and other tools can be debugging the game to analyse the production of hacked version.
frida debugging framework operation process
Such as the common debugging framework on the market frida. frida based on Python and JavaScript, with high debugging efficiency, wide range of applications. Can achieve cross-platform dynamic debugging, widely used in Andriod, iOS, Windows, Linux and other almost all-platform application debugging.
The use of frida threshold is low, dynamic debugging process only need to write scripts through frida comes with tools injected into the game process, you can HOOK key functions within the game, such as the game character attack power, life value, the game logic of victory and defeat, the logic of the surrender judgement, etc., and in the process of using, without having to analyse the source code of the program to be debugged.
Common debugging tools also include IDA, which has powerful static analysis capabilities and dynamic debugging capabilities, and can even remotely debug SO files and direct debugging of pseudo-code, so IDA tools are often used to bypass the existing in-game protection.
IDA remote debugging SO library
JikGuard provides customised solutions to security issues arising from hacked games. The protection solution has been applied to a number of popular games and has been proven to provide excellent protection.
Active identification of malicious modules
Unlike other security products in the market, which need to obtain samples and then fight against cheats, JikGuard's exclusive ‘active identification of malicious module mechanism’ actively identifies suspicious modules, and together with the online combat features, achieves proactive defence, which significantly shortens the cycle of cheats investigation.
Anti-debugging Features
JikGuard prevents cheats authors from debugging the game, preventing static or dynamic analysis of the game, and immediately flashing back once IDA/frida and other debugging analysis tools are detected.
Anti-hack features
JikGuard's exclusive API-free signature verification technology deeply encrypts the game's engine and code, and performs multiple checks on game package signatures and file integrity, preventing the game from being implanted with malicious modules, culling advertisements, and so on.
According to JikGuard’s own data, memory modification accounts for roughly 11% of the security threats games face. The attack itself is simple in principle: gain elevated privileges, then point a memory editor at the game and rewrite its values on the fly.
At its core, a memory editor is a cheat tool — off-the-shelf or custom-built — that can search through and overwrite a process’s memory. These tools come in countless variants and turn up on practically every platform. In this post, we’ll walk through real-world examples of the most common memory editors and lay out how to defend against them.
GameGuardian
GameGuardian offers hands-on memory searching and editing. In the demo below, repeated searches on a game’s coin value gradually narrow down the exact memory address; rewriting that address delivers unlimited coins.
GameGuardian also supports scripting. A script can locate and modify memory automatically, turning a manual exploit into a one-tap crack — and these scripts are one of the main channels through which game cheats spread.
Cheat Engine
Cheat Engine is a powerful memory editor for Windows games. It scans game memory and lets users modify and lock values, and it ships with a full toolkit besides: a debugger, disassembler, assembler, speed hack, and system inspection utilities.
Memory scanning is Cheat Engine’s bread and butter. Through repeated searches it pins down a target address, then edits or locks the value to assemble a working cheat.
JikGuard has observed cheaters using Cheat Engine against mobile games running inside PC emulators, then packaging and selling the resulting hacks. This kind of cross-layer cheating slips past traditional detection and makes investigation considerably harder.
Compared with mobile, the PC environment is far more permissive. Paired with other tools, Cheat Engine can debug and analyze a game while keeping itself well hidden.
To address the memory-modification threats games face, JikGuard has built a dedicated countermeasure strategy. It’s already integrated into a number of popular titles, where it has proven its protective strength.
Anti–Memory Modification
To counter memory tampering, JikGuard developed a behavior-based detection approach that pinpoints modification activity with precision — neutralizing memory editors and their variants across the board for genuinely effective protection.
Security Environment Detection
Using low-level detection techniques, JikGuard accurately identifies the environment a game is running in — jailbroken or rooted devices, virtual machines, virtual frameworks, cloud phones, and more — and applies a tailored crash strategy for each.