How Cerberus compares

Kernel-level coverage is a real cost, not a free upgrade

Layer 1 (Kernel Integrity) is what makes hardware/DMA detection and BYOVD blocking possible — but it also means installing a kernel driver, which is a heavier footprint than a purely usermode or behavioral-only solution. That's a legitimate thing for a studio to weigh, not a detail we'd rather skip past.

A few situations where a lighter, signature-only or behavioral-only approach may genuinely be the better fit:

• Very small titles without competitive or economic stakes. If there's no ranked ladder, no real-money economy, and cheating mostly means one annoyed player rather than a broken match, a kernel-level driver is probably more infrastructure than the problem calls for.
• Studios not ready to support kernel-driver certification overhead. EV code-signing, WHQL certification, and ongoing driver maintenance are real, ongoing engineering commitments — not a one-time integration step.
• Platforms where a kernel driver isn't allowed or practical. Some storefronts, consoles, or sandboxed environments restrict or prohibit kernel-level components entirely, which rules the approach out regardless of detection quality.
• Early prototypes and pre-launch builds. If the game itself is still changing shape, a lightweight behavioral or signature layer is often enough until there's an actual live economy or ranked mode worth protecting.

None of the layers above solve cheating completely — ours included. The 58-92% detection range and 0.14% false-positive rate we publish elsewhere on this site describe where Cerberus actually lands today, not a hypothetical ceiling.