Valorant Secure Boot

Introduction: Valorant’s Rise and the Cheating Challenge

Since its launch in 2020, Valorant has quickly become a staple of the competitive FPS landscape. Developed by Riot Games, the studio behind League of Legends, Valorant blends tactical shooter gameplay with unique agent abilities to deliver high-stakes, skill-driven matches.

But like all successful FPS titles, Valorant immediately attracted cheaters. From wallhacks and aim-assist bots to more sophisticated kernel-level exploits, the game has seen a constant tug-of-war between developers and malicious actors.

To stay ahead, Riot didn’t just build an anti-cheat system—they built an entire security ecosystem around the game. At the heart of this system is Secure Boot, a hardware-level protection layer now required to run Valorant on Windows machines. It works hand-in-hand with Vanguard, Riot’s proprietary anti-cheat solution, to deliver one of the most robust cheat-prevention setups in modern gaming.

Why FPS Games Need Unshakable Anti-Cheat Systems

First-person shooters are some of the most unforgiving genres in gaming. Victory often depends on fractions of a second, precise reactions, and situational awareness. That makes any form of external assistance a major disruptor.

Cheaters in FPS games don’t just give themselves an advantage—they ruin the experience for every other player in the lobby. And because these games are so competitive, the temptation to cheat is higher, pushing developers to create more advanced countermeasures.

Valorant, in particular, features ranked matchmaking, esports tournaments, and a massive streaming audience. Maintaining fair play isn’t just about player satisfaction—it’s a critical part of Riot’s business model and community integrity.

Secure Boot vs Traditional Anti-Cheat: What Makes It Special?

Before Secure Boot, most anti-cheat systems operated at the software or kernel driver level. These tools monitor in-game behavior, scan for suspicious files, and report anomalies to servers. However, experienced hackers have found ways to bypass or disable these systems using low-level exploits.

Secure Boot offers a fundamentally different approach. Instead of reacting to cheats, it prevents them from executing in the first place.

Why Secure Boot Is a Game Changer for Valorant:

• Runs Before the OS Loads: Secure Boot kicks in during the BIOS startup phase, ensuring only signed, trusted code is allowed.
• Blocks Kernel-Level Drivers: The most dangerous cheats operate at the kernel layer. Secure Boot stops unsigned drivers from loading altogether.
• Creates a Trusted System Environment: This gives Vanguard a clean and controlled space to operate without interference.
• Forces Cheaters to Work Harder: Bypassing Secure Boot requires advanced techniques that deter most casual cheat developers.

Together, Secure Boot and Vanguard form a “defense-in-depth” strategy: one hardens the boot process, the other monitors runtime behavior.

Other Games Using Secure Boot

Valorant helped set the precedent, but other major titles are now following Riot’s lead in enforcing Secure Boot:

• Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 / 7: Activision’s Ricochet Anti-Cheat is transitioning to Secure Boot as a mandatory requirement.
• Battlefield 6: EA has announced that Battlefield 6 will not run unless Secure Boot is enabled.
• Escape from Tarkov: Developers have hinted at deeper security integrations, possibly including Secure Boot checks.
• Apex Legends: Experimental patches have included Secure Boot validation, signaling future enforcement.

Valorant may have been among the first, but it certainly won’t be the last. The trend is clear: the industry is moving toward Secure Boot as a new security baseline.

Why Everyone’s Turning to Secure Boot

The rise of Secure Boot in gaming isn't just a reaction—it’s part of a larger shift in how developers think about system security. Here’s why it’s catching on fast:

1. Defeats Advanced Kernel Exploits: Traditional anti-cheats are too easily bypassed by low-level cheats. Secure Boot closes that door.
2. Aligns with Windows 11 Standards: Microsoft now requires Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 for modern OS installations, making it easier to enforce.
3. Harder to Bypass: Cheat developers must now target BIOS-level exploits, which are far more complex and rare.
4. Improves Anti-Cheat Accuracy: When Vanguard knows it’s operating in a clean environment, its detections are more reliable.
5. Builds Player Trust: Riot’s commitment to security signals that fair play is a top priority—and that resonates with the community.

Secure Boot is more than just a checkbox—it’s the foundation for a secure, cheat-resistant gameplay experience.

Maximize Valorant Performance with GearUP

While Secure Boot protects your system integrity, network issues like lag, jitter, and packet loss can still wreck your game. That’s where GearUP Booster comes in.

GearUP is a powerful network optimization tool built for competitive gamers. It improves your connection to Valorant servers by intelligently routing your traffic through the best-performing nodes.

Benefits of Using GearUP for Valorant:

• Smart acceleration reduces latency and ping spikes, ideal for clutch moments in ranked games.
• Covers global server regions, including direct optimization paths for Riot’s infrastructure.
• Fully compatible with Secure Boot and Vanguard—GearUP never alters system files or violates anti-cheat rules.
• Real-time dashboards let you monitor connection quality and switch routes on the fly.

With Secure Boot protecting you from cheaters and GearUP ensuring your ping stays low, you’re equipped for peak performance every match.

Conclusion

Valorant Secure Boot is a bold and necessary move in Riot’s war against cheating. By combining system-level protections with the already formidable Vanguard anti-cheat, Riot has created one of the safest competitive spaces in modern gaming. And when paired with tools like GearUP Booster, players get the full package: fairness, performance, and peace of mind. In the high-stakes world of Valorant, this kind of security is not optional—it’s essential.