Valve's anti-cheat takes a different path from most of the industry, and that matters for anyone thinking about hardware identifiers.
VAC and VAC Live
CS:GO used VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat) — a user-mode system without a kernel driver. CS2 added VAC Live, which watches matches in real time: if it detects a cheat mid-game, the match ends immediately and the cheater is banned.
Valve has stated openly that it wants to avoid kernel-mode anti-cheat. That is a privacy plus — Valve's anti-cheat does not install a driver deep in your system — but it also means VAC is less aggressive than Vanguard or Easy Anti-Cheat.
Where hardware fits in
VAC bans are mostly behavioural and signature-based rather than tightly tied to a hardware fingerprint. Compared with Vanguard-class anti-cheats, CS2 leans far less on hardware identifiers. A VAC ban can also be reviewed through Steam Support.
The bigger picture
Valve's lighter approach is the exception, not the rule. Riot, Epic and EA all enforce at the hardware level. CS2 is one of the few mainstream titles where hardware identity plays a smaller role — useful to know, but don't assume the same is true everywhere.