Key information
Christopher B. Didriksen, a student at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, has developed a biometric-based anti-cheat solution for Counter-Strike 2 as part of his Master's thesis. The research aims to address the issue of banned players returning via secondary accounts, commonly known as smurfs.
The proposed system creates a unique player fingerprint by analyzing mouse and keyboard inputs from competitive match demos. According to Didriksen, these patterns remain stable across different maps, sessions, and even sensitivity adjustments, such as changing from 800 to 640 eDPI.
In a dataset of over 1,000 players, the mouse movement biometrics identified individuals with high accuracy, while keyboard usage achieved a 98% success rate. Didriksen claims the method is fast enough to compare new matches against the entire monthly player base and can identify unreported smurf accounts.
Didriksen acknowledges that the system is not perfect, noting it could be confounded by shared accounts. However, the project successfully earned an A grade. The researcher credited the r/CS2 subreddit community for providing valuable data, including the disclosure of smurf accounts, which proved essential to his findings.
