What Is Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC)? How It Works

If you play shooters or survival games on PC, you have almost certainly run Easy Anti-Cheat. It is one of the two most widely used third-party anti-cheats, alongside BattlEye, and it sits underneath a large share of the games we cover.

What Easy Anti-Cheat is

Easy Anti-Cheat is anti-cheat software that game developers build into their games. When you launch an EAC game, a small EAC component starts first, checks your system and then lets the game start. While you play, it watches for cheats, and if it decides something is wrong it can refuse to let you connect, kick you from the match or report what it found to the game’s developer.

EAC came from Kamu, a Finnish company that Epic Games bought in 2018. Since 2021 Epic has offered it free to any developer through Epic Online Services, which is a large part of why so many games use it.

How EAC works

It starts before the game

Most EAC games start through a small launcher or service. That component verifies the game’s files, loads the anti-cheat and only then starts the game itself. If the service is missing or damaged, the game will not start, which is where the common “Easy Anti-Cheat is not installed” error comes from.

It runs at kernel level

On Windows, EAC installs a kernel-mode driver. In plain terms, it runs with the same level of access as your graphics driver, so it can see every process and every loaded driver on the PC, well beyond what happens inside the game window. Our page on kernel-level anti-cheat explains what that means in practice.

It checks the game and the system

While you play, EAC protects the game’s memory from other programs, checks the game’s code for changes and looks across the system for known cheats and tools. It works in layers, the same way most modern anti-cheats do, covered in detail in how anti-cheat detects cheats.

The game’s own servers do the rest

EAC is only one part. Each game adds its own server checks, reports and review. Dead by Daylight flags impossible actions on its servers. Rust servers have admins of their own. A detection from any of those can end in a ban.

Kicks, errors and bans

EAC produces three kinds of outcome, and they mean different things.

A well-known message is “Game Security Violation Detected”. It means EAC found software running that it will not allow beside the game. That is sometimes a cheat, but it can also be a harmless tool, such as some RGB, macro or system utilities. Closing the named program usually clears it.

Bans themselves are applied through each game’s own account system, so appeals go to the game’s support rather than to Epic. In some games the ban is visible beyond the game: Rust’s cheating bans show on your Steam profile as a game ban.

Fixing common EAC problems

• “Easy Anti-Cheat is not installed” or the game will not start. Verify or repair the game’s files in the launcher. Most EAC games also include an Easy Anti-Cheat setup program in the install folder with a Repair Service option. Restart, then launch again.
• Security violation on start. Close overlays, macro tools and hardware utilities one at a time to find the one EAC objects to.
• Error after a Windows update. Restart the PC fully, then repair the EAC service.

EAC on Linux and Steam Deck

Since September 2021 EAC has supported Linux and the Wine and Proton compatibility layers used by the Steam Deck. It is not automatic. Each developer chooses whether to allow it, which is why some EAC games run on a Steam Deck and others refuse to.

EAC and Elocarry builds

Every Elocarry build for an EAC game is written for EAC specifically. They are polymorphic, so the signature changes on every launch, and they are rebuilt when the game or EAC updates. Live status for each one is public in Discord and on the status page. No method is ever guaranteed, on EAC or anywhere else.

The games we cover that run EAC are listed below, each with its Wiki hub.