“I’ve been diving deep into Black Ops Cold War and uncovered some intriguing details about its user-mode anti-cheat system, TAC. Unlike Modern Warfare, TAC lacks a kernel-mode component. The game employs Arxan for obfuscation, making life harder for cheats and reverse engineers. With runtime executable decryption, entry point obfuscation, and pointer encryption, the game’s integrity is well-protected. TAC, found directly in the game executable, detects API hooking through Windows-specific functions. Debug register hooking methods pose a challenge to TAC, bypassing its monitoring. Despite its efforts, TAC remains vigilant against debug register tactics, making Black Ops Cold War a tough nut to crack for cheaters.”
https://ssno.cc/posts/reversing-tac-1-4-2025/