Players rave and rant about the wonders of kernel level anti cheats, and how games like Valorant barely have any cheaters compared VAC secured Counter Strike...
You’re missing the point of what he is saying. The anti-cheat itself runs in a level with extreme access to anything on your computer. The anti-cheat is like almost all software almost certainly exploitable. You are trusting that no one will ever crack Vanguard in a way that exposes your user data, and that Riot will never change it to collect more than you think they are.
It’s a driver.
Here the attacker installed the driver after gaining remote access.
So it’s not actually anything to do with having the game installed.
But it’s still a massive problem.
You’re missing the point of what he is saying. The anti-cheat itself runs in a level with extreme access to anything on your computer. The anti-cheat is like almost all software almost certainly exploitable. You are trusting that no one will ever crack Vanguard in a way that exposes your user data, and that Riot will never change it to collect more than you think they are.