Blizzard Defense Matrix
Defense Matrix is Blizzard's fair-play program for Overwatch 2, launched in 2022. Unlike kernel anti-cheats, it installs no kernel driver; it combines server-side and machine-learning detection, report review, and account security such as SMS Protect (a phone-number requirement on the Battle.net account). It asks less of the player's system than a kernel anti-cheat does, in exchange for relying more on server-side and behavioral signals.
Defense Matrix installs no kernel driver. It works from Blizzard's servers, from machine-learning detection, from report review, and from account security such as a phone-number requirement. It asks much less of your machine than a kernel anti-cheat does, and correspondingly sees much less of it, relying instead on how an account behaves across many games.
Catalogued by Vera from the anti-cheat maker's own documentation and named public reporting (Ars Technica, PC Gamer, Eurogamer, BleepingComputer, and others). Anti-cheats change; these notes reflect the public record as of June 2026. What is here is public evidence, never an accusation about a person.