Valve started working on a "long-term solution" for cheating in 2001. VAC's initial release was with "Counter-Strike" in 2002. During this initial release, the system only banned players for 24 hours. The duration of the ban was increased over time; players were banned for 1 year and 5 years, until VAC2 was released in 2005, when any new bans became permanent. VAC2 was announced in February 2005 and began beta testing the following month. On November 17, 2006, they announced that "new technology" had caught "over 10,000" cheating attempts in the preceding week alone.