Addressing Network Packet-based Cheats in Multiplayer Games: A Secret Sharing Approach
Yaqi Cai, Konstantinos Markantonakis, Carlton Shepherd
TL;DR
The paper tackles network packet-based cheats in online multiplayer games by introducing a secret sharing–driven framework that securely detects packet forgery, timing cheats, and collusion. It combines a trusted server $S$, a trusted referee $R$, and players $P$ with a Matsumoto-Okabe–based secret sharing scheme to reconstruct the game state only from a threshold of honest shares, all within a round-based timing model. The approach is formally verified in AVISPA and evaluated through a Python-based simulation, showing feasibility, acceptable latency (on the order of a few hundred milliseconds for the full protocol exchange), and robust protection of key assets such as the game state $X_A$, outputs $U_R$, $U_B$, and the session key $K_{AB}$. While the results demonstrate practical security benefits, the authors acknowledge a single point of failure in the centralized referee and suggest distributing referee functionality and exploring post-quantum extensions for future work.
Abstract
Multiplayer online gaming has witnessed an explosion in popularity over the past two decades. However, security issues continue to give rise to in-game cheating, deterring honest gameplay, detracting from user experience, and ultimately bringing financial harm to game developers. In this paper, we present a new approach for detecting network packet-based cheats, such as forgery and timing cheats, within the context of multiplayer games using an application of secret sharing. Our developed protocols are subjected to formal verification using AVISPA, and we present simulation results using a Python-based implementation. We show that our proposal is practical in addressing some widely used attacks in online gaming.