Authentication is handled one of two ways: either you have the game disc in the DVD drive, or you go online just once. exe will be wrapped with SecuROM that only runs when the game is running. You can read this official blog post on the anti-piracy measures, or watch as I attempt to cram a good chunk of juicy info into four brief paragraphs. Even though any form of DRM will result in cries of agony, I find the copy protection attached to Battlefield: Bad Company 2 to be quite reasonable.
