Two days ago, EvenBalance (creators of PunkBuster) put out a news article instructing players who play their games, to disconnect from any messenging service when playing a PunkBuster powered game. With the latest additions to the PunkBuster client (and server side installations) their security is getting better at detecting hacks. Unfortunately, they still have a problem as to the fact that the program does not ban IP’s, just player hash codes.
A hash code is a randomly generated key for your installation of the game. The downside is many hackers, crackers, cheaters and exploiters simply use a hash generator to get back into your server. EvenBalance rarely does an IP ban, and it has to be for a serious offense. Even for them to listen to your plea takes a long, long time.
With that said, it is no surprise that where ever there is a security fix, there is a hacker to break it. Now, cheaters and crackers are developing new hacks that can target a player by checking for open ports. Specifically, they target instant messenging protocols and IRC clients. Mainly IRC, as many users have “auto accept incoming transfers” on, for downloading from bots.
So, if you play a game that supports PunkBuster, and you are getting harassed, it may be a safer bet to turn off instant messenging when gaming. However, most people these days are behind a router so they would need to know what they are doing in order to get passed it.