10 articles
Protecting a Minecraft server
Anticheat for anarchy, PvP and survival; stopping X-Ray, griefers, bots and DDoS.
- Minecraft server security: the full checklistThe best protection isn't one plugin but several layers: each closes its own hole, and none replaces the others. The anticheat catches cheaters in game, the firewall hides service ports, permissions and two-factor sign-in guard access, and backups and logs save you when something still gets through. Below is a 12-point checklist and a walk through each point.9 min read
- Anticheat for anarchy servers: which cheats matter and how to catch themAnarchy has almost no rules, but it still needs an anticheat: CrystalAura wins fights in a tick, ElytraFly and BoatFly keep the server generating fresh chunks, and packet exploits and BookBot go after the server itself. Here's what to catch, which anticheats actually check it, and how to set strictness so you don't ban what anarchy is meant to allow.7 min read
- Anticheat for PvP and minigames: BedWars, SkyWars, DuelsIn PvP a cheater wins in seconds, and an honest player leaves after the second loss. Here's which cheats break combat and minigames, which anticheats check them, why fights are judged on evidence rather than a single hit, and how DGuard with its AI Combat neural network covers PvP end to end.7 min read
- Anticheat for survival / SMP: economy, X-Ray and automationOn survival a cheater doesn't just win — he wrecks the economy: Nuker and FastBreak inflate resources, AutoFish and AntiAFK farm with nobody at the keyboard, and the leaderboards stop meaning anything. Here's which cheats hurt an SMP, what an anticheat catches, what server settings take care of, and how to set gentle strictness for casual players.6 min read
- How to stop X-Ray on a Minecraft serverNo anticheat can see X-Ray: the cheat lives entirely on the client. You fight it differently — by never sending the client ores the player shouldn't see. Here's Paper's anti-xray with the recommended config from its docs, Orebfuscator as an alternative, and how to spot players who already mined with X-Ray.9 min read
- Grief protection: regions, claims and rollbacksNo single plugin stops griefers — a system does: regions and claims stop the damage, block logs find the culprit and roll it back, and permissions and backups cover the worst case. Here's each piece, with commands checked against the docs, and what an anticheat adds.7 min read
- Protecting a Minecraft server from bots and DDoSBot attacks and DDoS are different problems with different fixes, and an anticheat stops neither. Here's what to do about bot floods and chat spam, how to get through an attack on your network, why hiding your server's IP matters, and where an anticheat actually fits.8 min read
- Dupes and exploits: closing them on a Minecraft serverA dupe copies items; an exploit abuses a bug in the game or the server — for profit or to crash it. Paper closes most known dupes by itself; updates, packet limits and the server rules take care of the rest. Here are Paper's settings, book and packet exploits, how to investigate, and where the anticheat fits in.7 min read
- Protecting a Minecraft server from crashers and crash exploitsA crasher tries to bring your server down or freeze it: a packet flood, a giant book, redstone clocks, thousands of entities or command spam. Paper has built-in limits for nearly all of it — the trick is to know them, not to switch them off. Here's which setting covers what, what Velocity in front adds, and how to find the culprit if the server goes down anyway.10 min read
- Malicious plugins and backdoors: keeping your server cleanA plugin gets full access not just to the server but to the whole machine it runs on — Paper's docs say so directly. So a backdoored plugin isn't "a few cheats"; it's a stranger with owner rights. Here's where such plugins come from, how to avoid installing one, how to check your server, and what to do if it's already infected.7 min read
Run the best anticheat for modern Minecraft
DGuard catches all 47 kinds of cheats in our comparison — the closest rival, Intave, has 27. Full protection on every plan, free up to 30 players online.