Among Us: Innersloth's programmer answers questions about developing anti-hacks
Anyone who had the misfortune of playing in Among Us public lobbies a few weeks ago almost certainly noticed a marked increase in hacking, but recent updates appear to have stymied this. Recently, Forest Willard, the lead and only programmer for Among Us, answered a few questions about security in Among Us, in an interview on Big Boaby’s YouTube channel.
Incidents of hacking in Among Us appear to have dropped significantly
While exact numbers are hard to come by, Big Boaby asked for an update on hacks in Among Us, to which Forest replied that their second wave of anti-hacking features helped prevent the now infamous “Eris Loris” hacks, while the first wave addressed more “casual hackers.” Forest did admit that there were still some bugs in the system which could occasionally kick players for hacking when they weren’t, but that overall, the system was in a good place.
Of note was that Forest did admit that, while he is still the only programmer on Among Us, Innersloth has reached out to an “outside team” to expedite the development of an account system. Having players create an account in Among Us will help the developers ban whole accounts from their servers, rather than simply kicking them from games.
What should you do if you see a hacker in Among Us
Hackers will always exist, and the more popular a game is, the more hackers will target it. Therefore, even with the updates to anti-hacking software there’s still a chance that a lobby of random players may still include a hacker. To this end, Forest offered some sound advice for dealing with hackers in Among Us:
“If you see a hacker now, just leave that room. Hackers will say scary stuff, but it’s almost always fake. It’s really hard to actually get personal info through a game, and Among Us never directly connects two players, so everything so far has been safe, just annoying.”
Forest still recommends players try to play through private games or with a trusted group, but says that there should be much less to worry about in public lobbies. Further development will only make hacking in Among Us more difficult and more risky, meaning that players should encounter fewer and fewer hackers in the as time passes.
Lastly, if you see a hacked game, Forest did say that you can email them at us@innersloth.com to report it. While they likely won’t be able to take immediate action, it does help the developers to have as much information on active hacks when developing new security features.