Genshin Impact anti-cheat software under fire after hackers allegedly exploit it for disabling antivirus

sportskeeda.com:

Anti-cheat software is often necessary to curb cheaters, yet it can be exploited in a game like Genshin Impact. Hackers can apparently take advantage of it on a kernel level, and it's obviously not for good reasons.

The gist of the issue is tied to a driver known as mhyprot2.sys, which is used for Genshin Impact's anti-cheat.

Several tech-based websites have reported that ransomware attacks have occurred with that driver being used to bypass privileges. Worst of all, the game doesn't need to be installed for this to happen. Unsurprisingly, this has led to some people having their antivirus killed and ransomware installed on their computers.

The above video contains some important excerpts from Trend Micro's report on their findings. Here is a crucial passage from Trend Micro's report that readers need to understand:

mhyprot2.sys does help stop players from blatantly cheating in this game, but it's also capable of being used for nefarious means. This report also states that mhyprot2.sys can be used alongside any malware, making it far more dangerous than players might realize

The whole report is very technical and interesting to read, but some players might not even understand it. Here is a super succinct summary: Genshin Impact's mhyprot2.sys can make your system vulnerable.

That doesn't mean there will be a massive hack taking over millions of players' data. This report isn't some doom and gloom type of scenario. Instead, it's proof that some ransomware attacks have been happening lately due to Genshin Impact's anti-cheat driver.

The report talks about it being used alongside other files to "mass-deploy ransomware."

The examples used in the report include:

It's extremely easy to obtain mhyprot2.sys, considering that the game