PUBG Anti-Cheat: HWID Ban Evasion and New Console Bans

KRAFTON says it has banned 10,237 PUBG: Battlegrounds accounts that came back from a ban by changing their PC's hardware ID. That number is from the 5 November 2026 anti-cheat dev letter, the second one in a week. The first, a console review on 29 October, said console bans in the first nine months of 2026 already beat all of 2025 by 44.6%, and named two console cheats that now get you banned: lag switches and single-fire assist tools.

This post covers what's new in those two letters. For the standing rules, the penalty table and the weekly ban counts, read the PUBG bans guide; this one doesn't repeat them.

The two letters at a glance

Neither letter comes with a patch or asks players to change a setting; both describe detection and enforcement work.

HWID ban evasion: 10,237 accounts

HWID is hardware identification information: the fingerprint of a PC that a hardware ban attaches to. KRAFTON's Rules of Conduct already let it "restrict users from running the game if misconduct was found from a specific hardware device." The way around that was simple. In the letter's words, players "could evade bans by modifying their HWID (hardware identification information) and logging in with a new account, concealing the fact that their PC had already been banned."

Here's what KRAFTON says it changed:

• Two sets of detection criteria, "based on identifying information that remains consistent despite attempts to alter it." The letter doesn't say what that information is, which is reasonable, since naming it would tell cheat sellers what to spoof next.
• 10,237 accounts banned that were "confirmed to have evaded bans by changing their HWID."
• Four updates to the identification logic since the start of October 2026.
• Validation before use. KRAFTON says both sets of criteria were "thoroughly validated before being applied to ensure that legitimate players are not unnecessarily banned."

The letter says this has "laid the groundwork for addressing attempts to evade bans using new accounts or different PCs." That's a direction, not a description of something live: it doesn't say a ban now follows you onto a different PC.

If you play clean, the letter asks nothing of you. What it means if your PC was banned: a fresh account on the same hardware is now the case KRAFTON says it's catching. The Rules already allow sanctions up to a permanent ban on all accounts created on a device or tied to an IP address when they were made "for the purpose of engaging in misconduct," "even if accessed on a different PC/console," so the new account can take the old one's fate with it.

One case the letter doesn't cover is a shared or second-hand PC that was banned before you owned it. KRAFTON doesn't say how the new criteria treat it. If you're buying a used gaming PC, that's worth knowing.

Squadding with a cheater

The shortest section of the 5 November letter is the one that can catch a player who never runs a cheat. KRAFTON writes that "forming a premade team with cheaters to gain an unfair advantage is a clear form of cheating," even if you never run a cheat program yourself.

That isn't a new rule. The Rules of Conduct already say that if you've "received advantages by creating a team with a user who continuously or intentionally uses unauthorized programs or hardware devices," you can be treated as "a member of an abnormal team." Teaming already carries up to a permanent ban in the Rules' penalty table. What's new is that KRAFTON is "considering stronger penalties to prevent it from recurring." It gives no date, no penalty and no definition of when you're deemed to have known.

The practical advice in the letter is one line: if you're playing with someone you suspect of cheating, report them with the in-game report feature. The letter also warns that playing alongside cheaters "can also lead to serious penalties against your own account."

Cheat ads: 281,776 reports

The rest of the 5 November letter is about cheats sold outside the game. KRAFTON says it watches websites, online marketplaces and social media with "a machine learning-based detection system," tracking "reappearing seller accounts and distribution channels" as well as individual posts and videos, and reports what it finds to each platform under that platform's rules.

The letter's text says "more than 280,000" reports from January to September 2026. Its infographic gives the exact count and the split:

The three channels add up exactly to the headline figure. Note the wording: these are reports KRAFTON filed, and "action is being taken based on the platforms' reviews." The letter doesn't say how many listings were actually removed. The infographic is also labelled "PC" in its subtitle, so these figures appear to cover PC cheats.

KRAFTON's own line is that "a single takedown is not enough," because the same ads reappear "in a different form." Read that as a running effort, not a fix.

Console: 2026 in two charts

The 29 October letter is a console-only review. KRAFTON published two charts with it, and neither has absolute numbers on its bars, only percentage changes.

The periods are the important detail. KRAFTON compares nine months of 2026 against twelve of 2025, so the monthly rate rose by more than the headline figure. If the comparison is straight totals, as the chart's labels suggest, nine months at 1.446 times a full year works out to roughly 93% more bans a month on average. KRAFTON doesn't state a monthly figure itself.

Keyboard-and-mouse bans grew fastest by rate: they more than tripled, while other console cheating, team kills excluded, rose by about the same share as the total. The keyboard-and-mouse jump lines up with the timeline: converters such as Cronus, XIM and Mix Master moved to permanent bans at the end of June, which the bans guide covers in full. Because KRAFTON gives no counts, though, the charts don't show which category added the most bans.

Four console crackdowns

KRAFTON says that in 2025 its console bans focused on team killing and unauthorized input devices. The 29 October letter lists four actions for 2026:

Two of these are worth a closer look.

Lag switches took until September to go from policy to bans. The April letter announced permanent bans for intentionally causing latency in combat and said review criteria were in place. The October letter says bans actually began in September, "after refining our detection and assessment criteria." If you read the April letter as "lag switching has been bannable since April," that's right on paper, but enforcement started in September.

Single-fire tools are a rapid-fire problem. KRAFTON describes unauthorized tools "that enable firing at a rate physically impossible for a human." The letter is dated 29 October and says bans "will begin" in October, so treat it as an announcement. KRAFTON hasn't published a count. Its message is to "stop using them immediately."

The letter also lists what cheaters are trying next: making keyboard inputs "mimic a controller's analog inputs," and key-mapping features, meaning input conversion and remapping built into unauthorized devices or programs. KRAFTON says it's detecting these and will work on two areas: more advanced input analysis, and better detection of converters and other unauthorized assist devices. It gives no dates.

If you play on PS5 or Xbox with a standard controller, the input-device crackdown isn't aimed at you. The April advice still stands: KRAFTON "strongly recommend[s] using only official controllers." Console and PC don't share matchmaking, as the crossplay explainer covers, so the console figures describe who you meet in the console pool.

What KRAFTON still hasn't said

As of the 5 November letter, KRAFTON's documents leave these open:

• The bar values. Both console charts show percentage changes only, so the actual number of console bans in 2025 or 2026 isn't public.
• What HWID detection now keys on, and how it treats a banned PC that changes owners.
• The stronger penalty for squadding with cheaters, and whether it would apply to past matches.
• How many single-fire tool bans have been issued, or whether the October start date held.
• How many cheat ads were taken down, as opposed to reported.
• Whether the HWID work covers consoles. The 5 November letter is tagged for PC and console, but its HWID section talks about PCs and its distribution chart is labelled PC.

Quick Action Checklist

• If your PC was banned, don't make a new account on it; KRAFTON says it has banned 10,237 accounts that tried exactly that by changing HWID
• Don't keep queuing with a squadmate you suspect of cheating; report them in-game, because the Rules can treat you as "a member of an abnormal team"
• On console, use an official controller; converters, keyboard-to-analog tricks and key mapping are all on KRAFTON's detection list
• Don't use a lag switch on console; permanent bans for it began in September 2026
• Don't use rapid-fire or single-fire assist tools on console; KRAFTON said bans start in October 2026
• Don't feed kills to a friend's account; console stat-abuse detection was improved in October to catch players who land apart or switch accounts
• Buying a used gaming PC? KRAFTON hasn't said how a previous owner's HWID ban is treated
• For penalty lengths, appeals and the weekly ban counts, see the PUBG bans guide