In just a matter of hours, the Black Ops 7 beta has been infiltrated by cheaters

The constant game of cat and mouse that Call of Duty plays with cheaters is ramping up to a new level in Black Ops 7. While there have been moments of relative peace in Black Ops 6 and Warzone over the last 12 months, there have also been periods where COD's cheating problem looked like it was spiraling out of control. Activision wants to make BO7 the most robust COD yet when it comes to protecting players from hackers, and with the Black Ops 7 beta now live, it's started enforcing PC players to run two key, third-party anti-cheat features: Secure Boot and TPM 2.0. However, just hours into the new FPS game's beta, clips are emerging of cheaters using aim bots and wall hacks.

While I'm certainly not seeing widespread reports of people encountering cheaters regularly, there's already evidence of bad actors infiltrating the Black Ops 7 beta. Footage ranges from kill cams of opposition players quite clearly using some kind of aim bot, to cheaters actually recording their own screens to show some pretty advanced cheats working in real time.

Of course, this is generating some concern among the community, and if you did end up butting heads with one of these heathens in a lobby, your initial Black Ops 7 experience is going to seriously suffer. Seeing cheaters flexing just hours into the beta is worrying, especially given that they're getting past the added, mandatory defenses of Secure Boot and TPM 2.0. However, there are two reasons why you should relax and drop your shoulders a little.

The first is that Call of Duty's own, in-house anti-cheat system, Ricochet, hasn't fully implemented all of its promised upgrades yet - they'll properly arrive alongside the Black Ops 7 release date. Right now, in the beta, they are being "dynamically scaled," which means they are being tested and monitored at different times and with various strengths. In a nutshell, you're not feeling the entire benefit of Ricochet's new cheat-detection measures all of the time. "The full force of Ricochet Anti-Cheat's upgrades will go live when Black Ops 7 launches this November," Activision says in a blog post from earlier this week.

The second is quite surprising - Activision is actually happy to see cheaters poking at the Black Ops 7 beta's defenses. "Cheaters will try to test the limits during the Beta. That's exactly what we want because #TeamRICOCHET is here, watching, learning, and removing them as they appear," the blog post also reads. "Any account permanently banned for cheating during the Beta will be banned across all Call of Duty titles, from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare to future releases."

CHEATER ON DAY 1 OF BLACK OPS 7 BETA LMFAO!!! pic.twitter.com/KkkW55vZaO

- Nicari 🤍 (@Nicari) October 2, 2025

Activision has also been replying to some prominent community figures that have shared footage of hackers to confirm the specific accounts featured in the clips have been banned, as is the case for the instance above.

So, a bit of short-term pain for, hopefully, some long-term gain. The Ricochet team constantly promises rigorous security and detection measures, but that's only the reality some of the time. With high competition from Battlefield 6 this year, Black Ops 7 can ill afford a launch plagued by cheaters, so my fingers are crossed that all these new upgrades, the testing during the beta, and the addition of Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 will keep all those bad actors at bay.

If you're planning on sinking some hours into the beta over the next few days, be sure to check out our guide on the best Black Ops 7 weapons. If you give it a spin and it's not for you, here are some great competitive multiplayer games to try instead.

Is the BO7 beta in your weekend plans? Come and let us know in the PCGamesN Discord, or chat about what you'll be playing instead.