Yes. Activision says it uses hardware identifiers among the signals used to target serial cheaters, and Team RICOCHET reported issuing more than 70,000 new hardware bans in the month before its September 18, 2026 update. Those company statements confirm hardware-based enforcement, but they do not reveal exactly which identifiers are checked, how a match is made, or how long a hardware ban lasts.
What Activision has confirmed about HWID bans
“HWID ban” is common player shorthand. Activision’s public wording is “hardware identifiers” and “hardware bans.” In its January 17, 2025 Call of Duty community update, Activision said its updated detection models use behavioral systems and other data points, including account trust and hardware identifiers, to target serial cheaters.
On September 18, 2026, Team RICOCHET said it had issued more than 70,000 new hardware bans in the preceding month in its RICOCHET update. That is Activision’s reported operational count, not an independently audited figure. The post does not specify the exact dates covered by “last month,” nor does it provide an estimate of an individual player’s chance of receiving a hardware ban.
These statements establish that hardware identifiers are used as an enforcement signal and that Activision reports issuing hardware bans. They do not disclose the precise identifiers, matching method, whether any individual ban is based on hardware alone, or the ban’s persistence.
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How RICOCHET enforcement works, in broad terms
Activision describes RICOCHET as a layered system, not a single check of one serial number. Its RICOCHET Anti-Cheat overview and FAQ describes client- and server-based tools, analytics, and a PC kernel-level driver that operates while a protected title is running and monitors software that interacts with Call of Duty titles. It also describes TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot as protections that help verify system integrity before a game session.
The public descriptions do not explain the underlying hardware-identification or enforcement algorithms. It is therefore not possible to infer from an error message, a component change, or an online anecdote which identifier was involved or how a particular sanction was reached.
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What cheating penalties can mean
Permanent account bans
In its May 7, 2025 Season 03 RICOCHET recap, Team RICOCHET said: “Any account that utilizes these devices on PC or console for the purpose of cheating will be permanently banned.” That statement applies to the devices and cheating use described in that update; it should not be read as a promise that every enforcement category has an identical penalty or process.
Other enforcement can differ by behavior
Team RICOCHET’s June 4, 2026 Season 04 update describes warnings and temporary bans for certain scripted input devices, with enforcement intended to deter repeated use. This is a separate, dated enforcement context from the May 2025 permanent-ban statement. The available public statements do not establish one universal sequence of penalties for every suspected case.
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Is a TPM or Secure Boot restriction the same as a cheating ban?
No. Activision’s June 2026 update describes remote attestation through Microsoft Azure to verify PC security settings. It says systems that fail TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot requirements may be placed in separate matchmaking pools, including being unable to match with console players. That is a platform-compliance or matchmaking restriction, not by itself proof that an account was sanctioned for cheating.
Activision also cautions that hardware or firmware problems can cause an attestation failure without intentional tampering. A TPM or Secure Boot warning should therefore be treated as a system-security or compatibility issue unless Activision’s account or enforcement information says otherwise. The company’s Season 05 update also discusses TPM, Secure Boot, and remote attestation.
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Hardware bans are not IP bans
Activision’s January 2025 community update says its anti-cheat does not use IP-based bans, because they can affect unrelated people sharing a network, such as users at a campus or internet café. This is a distinct issue from the use of hardware identifiers: the cited statement does not describe a whole-network ban as the method for hardware enforcement.
What public sources do not tell players
- Which exact hardware identifiers are checked or how they are combined with behavioral and account-trust signals.
- How long a hardware ban persists, or whether it applies to every Call of Duty title or platform in the same way.
- Whether changing or replacing a particular component affects an enforcement decision.
- Whether any specific error message means an account or hardware ban without authoritative case details.
Activision’s January 2025 update also reported more than 136,000 Ranked Play account bans since that mode launched. That is a Ranked Play account-ban count, not a hardware-ban total, and it cannot be used to estimate an individual player’s odds.
What to do if you think enforcement affected your account
- Check the official Activision account and enforcement information for the status and any stated reason.
- If you believe a decision is mistaken, use Activision’s official support and enforcement process rather than relying on a short error message or forum diagnosis.
- If the issue specifically concerns TPM 2.0 or Secure Boot attestation, investigate the system’s firmware and security settings as a separate technical issue; an attestation failure alone is not proof of cheating.
The public material does not establish that reinstalling the game, replacing hardware, or changing system components will reverse a ban. Avoid cheat or spoofing tools: Activision’s published enforcement statements make clear that cheating can carry account penalties, while the precise technical mechanics are not public.
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