WARDOGS Anti-Cheat and Secure Boot
Answer
WARDOGS uses Easy Anti-Cheat running at kernel level. That means installing the game also installs a driver with the highest privilege level on your machine, so it can detect low-level tampering with the game, drivers and running processes that a normal user-space application cannot see. It is a real trade-off worth understanding before you install: it is why the anti-cheat is effective, why it is the most common cause of launch failures, and why Steam Deck and Linux are not supported.
What kernel-level anti-cheat actually does
Worth explaining properly, because the topic generates more heat than information in both directions.
Windows separates software into two privilege levels. User space is where normal applications run — your browser, your games, your chat client. They are isolated from each other and from the operating system's core. Kernel space is the operating system's core itself, where drivers live. Code running there can see and modify essentially anything on the machine.
Cheats moved into kernel space years ago. A cheat running as a driver can read game memory, hide itself from user-space scanners, and manipulate input in ways an application-level anti-cheat has no visibility into at all. That is the actual reason kernel anti-cheat exists: a user-space anti-cheat cannot see a kernel-space cheat. It is not theatre, and it is not laziness.
The cost is equally real. You are installing a driver from a third party that runs at the highest privilege level on your system, loads with Windows, and by design observes other processes. Reasonable people weigh that differently. What matters is making the decision knowingly.
| The case for | The case against |
|---|---|
| It can detect kernel-level cheats, which user-space anti-cheat cannot | It is a high-privilege third-party driver on your machine |
| A 100-player competitive shooter is a high-value cheating target | It typically loads with Windows, not only when the game runs |
| Easy Anti-Cheat is mature and very widely deployed | Any kernel driver is a potential attack surface if a flaw is found |
| Cheating in a three-team objective mode is unusually corrosive | It blocks Linux, Proton and Steam Deck unless the developer enables them |
Does WARDOGS require Secure Boot or TPM?
BULKHEAD has not published a hard Secure Boot requirement for WARDOGS. The Steam store page lists Windows 10 as the minimum operating system and does not state a Secure Boot or TPM prerequisite.
What is true generally: kernel anti-cheat implementations commonly check Secure Boot state, because Secure Boot is what stops an attacker loading an unsigned malicious driver before the anti-cheat starts. If EAC refuses to start on your machine, Secure Boot is a reasonable first thing to check. This section will be updated with a definitive answer once the Early Access build is live.
If you are going to enable Secure Boot, read this first
Enabling Secure Boot is a firmware change, not a settings toggle, and there are two ways it commonly goes wrong:
- Disk encryption. If you use BitLocker or a similar full-disk encryption, changing Secure Boot state can trigger a recovery-key prompt on the next boot. Have your recovery key available before you change anything. This is the single most common way people lock themselves out of their own machine over a game.
- Legacy/CSM installs. A Windows installation made in legacy BIOS mode rather than UEFI may not boot with Secure Boot enabled without converting the disk first. Check whether your system is already using UEFI before switching.
If either applies to you and you are not confident, the safe answer is to leave it alone and wait for confirmation on whether WARDOGS actually requires it.
Why this blocks Steam Deck, Linux and Proton
Easy Anti-Cheat can work under Proton on Linux — Epic provides the mechanism — but it requires the developer to explicitly enable it. It is a switch on BULKHEAD's side, not a setting you can change.
Current status:
- No Proton or Steam Deck compatibility has been confirmed for WARDOGS.
- BULKHEAD has said Linux is not a current development priority, while leaving open the possibility of revisiting it later.
- The presence of EAC alone does not imply compatibility. Plenty of EAC games run on Deck; plenty do not. It depends entirely on whether the developer enabled the Proton module.
So the honest position for anyone buying primarily to play on a Deck: do not, until BULKHEAD says otherwise. See the platforms page for the wider picture.
When anti-cheat stops the game launching
This is the most common launch-week failure mode in games using kernel EAC. In rough order of likelihood:
- The EAC service did not install Reinstall it from the game's Steam install directory, or verify game files in Steam to restore it.
- Security software quarantined the driver Third-party antivirus flags kernel anti-cheat drivers routinely — heuristically, a kernel driver looks exactly like the thing antivirus exists to stop. Add exclusions for the game folder and the EAC service.
- Secure Boot is disabled See above, with the disk-encryption warning.
- Another kernel driver is conflicting Some overclocking utilities, RGB software, virtual machine tools and other anti-cheat drivers conflict. Close them and retry.
- Virtualisation-based security interactions Rare, but VBS and memory integrity settings occasionally interact badly with anti-cheat drivers.
- Not running with sufficient privilege Run once as administrator so the service can install its driver.
Fuller diagnostics on the troubleshooting page.
Privacy: what to actually be concerned about
A calibrated view, because this deserves neither dismissal nor panic:
- It is not spyware in the conventional sense. Easy Anti-Cheat is a widely deployed commercial product used by a large number of major titles, subject to the same legal and reputational constraints as any vendor at that scale.
- It does have high privilege, and that is the point. The capability that catches cheats is the same capability that makes people uncomfortable. There is no version of this where it has deep visibility for cheat detection but not otherwise.
- The realistic risk is a vulnerability, not malice. The scenario worth weighing is a flaw in a signed kernel driver being exploited by someone else — a pattern that has happened with various drivers across the industry.
- You can bound it. If you are uncomfortable with a kernel driver loading permanently, the mitigation is not to install games that require one. That is a legitimate choice, and it means not buying WARDOGS.
Anti-cheat FAQ
Does WARDOGS use kernel-level anti-cheat?
Yes — Easy Anti-Cheat operating at kernel level, with deeper system access than a normal application in order to detect low-level tampering.
Does WARDOGS require Secure Boot?
No hard requirement has been published. Kernel anti-cheat commonly checks Secure Boot state, so it is worth checking if EAC will not start — but have your disk encryption recovery key ready before changing firmware settings.
Is kernel anti-cheat safe?
It is a genuine trade-off. It has the highest privilege on your machine, which is exactly why it can catch cheats user-space tools cannot. The realistic risk is a vulnerability in the driver rather than misuse by the vendor.
Does WARDOGS work on Steam Deck?
No verified support. EAC can be enabled for Proton by a developer, but that has not been confirmed for WARDOGS, and Linux is not a stated priority.
Can I uninstall Easy Anti-Cheat and still play?
No. The anti-cheat is required to play WARDOGS online, which is the only way the game is played.
Does anti-cheat run when I'm not playing?
Kernel anti-cheat services typically load with Windows rather than only with the game. If that concerns you, it is worth knowing before installing.
Sources: the official Steam store page (anti-cheat listing, operating system requirements), BULKHEAD developer responses on Linux priority in the official Steam Community discussions, and Epic's published Easy Anti-Cheat documentation on Proton support being developer-enabled. General kernel anti-cheat explanation is this wiki's own and is not WARDOGS-specific. Back to the PC hub.