There was a time that Denuvo’s Anti-Tampering tech was seen as uncrackable, a metaphorical Fort Knox that developers could use to defend against would-be pirates.
As the tech rose to prominence, however, it became an Everest for pirate groups looking to conquer the seemingly unconquerable, and now one notable hacker has been arrested for his troubles.
The pirate in question is Bulgarian hacker Voksi, who back in 2016 made a name for himself after finally cracking Denuvo’s protections with a breakthrough workaround.
As reported by Kotaku (via CrackWatch), Voksi has been apprehended by Bulgarian authorities, who’ve been working with Denuvo’s parent company Irdeto to catch their man. Voksi himself didn’t seem too surprised by the arrest, and suggested it had been a long time coming.
“It finally happened,” he wrote on the CrackWatch subreddit. “I can’t say it wasn’t expected. Denuvo filed a case against me to the Bulgarian authorities. Police came yesterday and took the server PC and my personal PC. I had to go to the police afterwards and explain myself.”
Voksi has conceded his hacking days are likely behind him following the arrest, and claims he was targeting Denuvo to fight back against “bloated software in our games.” For its part, Denuvo hopes the arrest will reiterate the serious nature of video game piracy and cybercrime in general.
“The swift action of the Bulgarian police on this matter shows the power of collaboration between law enforcement and technology providers and that piracy is a serious offense that will be acted upon,” said the company.