Genshin Impact is an always online open world free-to-play action role-playing gacha video game developed by MiHoYo.
Genshin Impact
| Basic Information | |
|---|---|
| Release Year | 2020 |
| Product Type | Free-to-play always online action role-playing video game |
| In Production | Yes |
| Official Website | https://genshin.hoyoverse.com/ |
Consumer impact summary
- Privacy: Genshin Impact despite primarily being a single player title with some co-op elements utilises kernel level anti-cheat.
- Control: Users must have the anti-cheat running while playing the game. Prior to a September 2020 update, it also remained running after the game was closed or uninstalled.[1]
- Security: Kernel level anti-cheats, have the highest amount of privilege on the running machine — and the greatest vulnerability should it be hacked.
Incidents
Genshin Impact anti-cheat used to bypass anti-virus in ransomware attack (August 2022)
In 2022, Genshin Impact's anti-cheat was used in a ransomware attack vector. This was originally reported on by TrendMicro.[2] During this period of vulnerability, Genshin Impact's anti-cheat was utilized to bypass anti-virus software, allowing attackers to remotely deploy ransomware payloads to an affected user's computer.
Genshin Impact's public relations team, Hoyoverse PR, responded to multiple news outlets with a generic answer that seemed to confirm the validity of the claims by TrendMicro.[3][4]
Further reading
References
- ↑ "About Our Anti-Cheat System (Updated)". Genshin Impact. 28 Sep 2020. Archived from the original on 1 Feb 2023. Retrieved 22 Sep 2025.
- ↑ Soliven, Ryan (24 Aug 2022). "Ransomware Actor Abuses Genshin Impact Anti-Cheat Driver to Kill Antivirus". TrendMicro. Archived from the original on 18 Sep 2025. Retrieved 22 Sep 2025.
- ↑ Bolding, Jonathan (28 Aug 2022). "Ransomware abuses Genshin Impact's kernel mode anti-cheat to bypass antivirus protection". PCGamer. p. 1. Retrieved 22 Sep 2025.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ Toulas, Bill (25 Aug 2022). "Hackers abuse Genshin Impact anti-cheat system to disable antivirus". Bleeping Computer. Retrieved 22 Sep 2025.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)