How to Prevent Speed Hacking & Speed Hacks in Android Apps

Last updated November 9, 2023 by Appdome

Learn to Prevent Speed Hacking in Android apps, in mobile CI/CD with a Data-Driven DevSecOps™ build system.

What is Speed Hacking?

Speed Hacking is a game cheating technique where players in a mobile game modify the clock speed to move much faster than otherwise possible, thus gaining an unfair advantage. Some of the top methods used by game cheaters for Speed Hacking are:

• Change internal clock speed to make a character run faster
• Change “sleep time” in a game to allow a character faster recovery from a setback, or faster strength build up
• Change game settings or in-app values to remove waiting or recovery time between game stages or sequences
• Use code injection to change game values or logic (e.g.: Gaining, rather than losing, ammo by firing your weapon)

Many cheating tools such as GameGuardian and Cheat Engines often come with built-in speed hacking tools or capabilities.

Why Prevent Speed Hacking in Android Apps?

As Speed Hacking can allow players to gain an unfair advantage in mobile games, this practice should be blocked from allowing hackers unfair advantages. This is especially important because hackers are alienating regular players and will cause attrition of users from the game impacting game ratings, bad satisfaction ratings/reviews, and most importantly loss in revenue. Appdome Speed Hacking will prevent these exploits

Prerequisites for Using Prevent Speed Hacking:

To use Appdome’s mobile app security build system to Prevent Speed Hacking , you’ll need:

Prevent Speed Hacking on Android apps using Appdome

On Appdome, follow these 3 simple steps to create self-defending Android Apps that Prevent Speed Hacking without an SDK or gateway:

  1. Upload the Mobile App to Appdome.

    1. Upload an app to Appdome’s Mobile App Security Build System

    2. Upload Method: Appdome Console or DEV-API
    3. Android Formats: .apk or .aab
    4. Prevent Speed Hacking Compatible With: Java, JS, C++, C#, Kotlin, Flutter, React Native, Unity, Xamarin, Cordova and other Android apps
  2. Build the feature: Prevent Speed Hacking.

    1. Building Prevent Speed Hacking by using Appdome’s DEV-API:

      1. Create and name the Fusion Set (security template) that will contain the Prevent Speed Hacking feature as shown below:
      2. fusion set that contains Prevent Speed Hacking

        Figure 1: Fusion Set that will contain the Prevent Speed Hacking feature
        Note: Naming the Fusion Set to correspond to the protection(s) selected is for illustration purposes only (not required).

      3. Follow the steps in Sections 2.2.1-2.2.2 of this article, Building the Prevent Speed Hacking feature via Appdome Console, to add the Prevent Speed Hacking feature to this Fusion Set.

      4. Open the Fusion Set Detail Summary by clicking the “...” symbol on the far-right corner of the Fusion Set, as shown in Figure 1 above, and get the Fusion Set ID from the Fusion Set Detail Summary (as shown below): fusion Set Detail Summary image

        Figure 2: Fusion Set Detail Summary
        Note: Annotating the Fusion Set to identify the protection(s) selected is optional only (not mandatory).

      5. Follow the instructions below to use the Fusion Set ID inside any standard mobile DevOps or CI/CD toolkit like Bitrise, App Center, Jenkins, Travis, Team City, Cirlce CI or other system:
        1. Build an API for the app – for instructions, see the tasks under Appdome API Reference Guide
        2. Look for sample APIs in Appdome’s GitHub Repository
    2. Building the Prevent Speed Hacking feature via Appdome Console

      To build the Prevent Speed Hacking protection by using Appdome Console, follow the instructions below.

      1. Where: Inside the Appdome Console, go to Build > Anti Fraud Tab > Mobile Cheat Prevention section.
      2. When you select the Prevent Speed Hacking you'll notice that your Fusion Set you created in step 2.1.1 now bears the icon of the protection category that contains Prevent Speed Hacking

        Fusion Set applied Prevent Speed Hacking

        Figure 4: Fusion Set that displays the newly added Prevent Speed Hacking protection

      3. Select the Threat-Event™ in-app mobile Threat Defense and Intelligence policy for Prevent Speed Hacking:
        1. Threat-Events™ OFF > In-App Defense

          If the Threat-Events™ setting is cleared (not selected). Appdome will detect and defend the user and app by enforcing Prevent Speed Hacking.

        2. Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Detection

          When this setting is used, Appdome detects the use of Speed Hacking and passes Appdome’s Threat-Event™ attack intelligence to the app’s business logic for processing, enforcement, and user notification. For more information on consuming and using Appdome Threat-Events™ in the app, see section Using Threat-Events™ for Prevent Speed Hacking Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.

        3. Threat-Events™ ON > In-App Defense

          When this setting is used, Appdome detects and defends against Speed Hacking (same as Appdome Enforce) and passes Appdome’s Threat-Event™ attack intelligence the app’s business logic for processing. For more information on consuming and using Appdome Threat-Events™ in the app, see section Using Threat-Events™ for Prevent Speed Hacking Intelligence and Control in Mobile Apps.

      4. Click Build My App at the bottom of the Build Workflow (shown in Figure 3).
    Congratulations!  The Prevent Speed Hacking protection is now added to the mobile app

Using Threat-Events™ for Speed Hacking Intelligence and Control in Android Apps

Appdome Threat-Events™ provides consumable in-app mobile app attack intelligence and defense control when Speed Hacking is detected. To consume and use Threat-Events™ for Speed Hacking in Android Apps, use registerReceiver in the Application OnCreate, and the code samples for Threat-Events™ for Speed Hacking shown below.

The specifications and options for Threat-Events™ for Speed Hacking are:

Threat-Event™ Elements Prevent Speed Hacking Method Detail
Appdome Feature Name Prevent Speed Hacking
Threat-Event Mode
OFF, IN-APP DEFENSE Appdome detects, defends and notifies user (standard OS dialog) using customizable messaging.
ON, IN-APP DETECTION Appdome detects the attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (app chooses how and when to enforce).
ON, IN-APP DEFENSE Uses Appdome Enforce mode for any attack or threat and passes the event in a standard format to the app for processing (gather intel on attacks and threats without losing any protection).
Certified Secure™ Threat Event Check
Visible in ThreatScope™
Developer Parameters for Preventing Speed Hacking Threat-Event™
Threat-Event NAME SpeedHackDetected
Threat-Event DATA reasonData
Threat-Event CODE reasonCode
Threat-Event REF 6916
Threat-Event SCORE
currentThreatEventScore Current Threat-Event score
threatEventsScore Total Threat-events score
Threat-Event Context Keys
message Message displayed for the user on event
externalID The external ID of the event which can be listened via Threat Events
osVersion OS version of the current device
deviceModel Current device model
deviceManufacturer The manufacturer of the current device
fusedAppToken The task ID of the Appdome fusion of the currently running app
kernelInfo Info about the kernel: system name, node name, release, version and machine.
carrierPlmn PLMN of the device
deviceID Current device ID
reasonCode Reason code of the occured event
buildDate Appdome fusion date of the current application
devicePlatform OS name of the current device
carrierName Carrier name of the current device
updatedOSVersion Is the OS version up to date
deviceBrand Brand of the device
deviceBoard Board of the device
buildUser Build user
buildHost Build host
sdkVersion Sdk version
timeZone Time zone
deviceFaceDown Is the device face down
locationLong Location long
locationLat Location lat
locationState Location state
wifiSsid Wifi SSID
wifiSsidPermissionStatus Wifi SSID permission status

With Threat-Events™ enabled (turned ON), Android developers can get detailed attack intelligence and granular defense control in Android applications and create amazing user experiences for all mobile end users when Speed Hacking is detected.

The following is a code sample for native Android apps, which uses all values in the specification above for Prevent Speed Hacking:


Using Appdome, there are no development or coding prerequisites to build secured Android Apps by using Prevent Speed Hacking. There is no SDK and no library to code or implement in the app and no gateway to deploy in your network. All protections are built into each app and the resulting app is self-defending and self-protecting.

Releasing and Publishing Mobile Apps with Prevent Speed Hacking

After successfully securing your app by using Appdome, there are several available options to complete your project, depending on your app lifecycle or workflow. These include:

Related Articles:

If you have any questions, please send them our way at support.appdome.com or via the chat window on the Appdome platform.

Thank you!

Thanks for visiting Appdome! Our mission is to secure every app on the planet by making mobile app security easy. We hope we’re living up to the mission with your project.

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