VROC: Virtual Racers' Online Connection

Security Warning

As you know, any activity on the Internet poses certain security risks. We are making every effort to protect VROC and its users from hostile attacks, but no Internet activity such as VROC can be totally secure. In addition, GPL has characteristics that present certain risks.

The creators of VROC assume no responsibility for any damage or loss arising out of the use of VROC or GPL. By accessing the VROC Web site, you agree to this condition. Use VROC at your own risk!

Here are some security issues of which you should be aware.

IP Address Exposure

If you host a race using VROC, all users who wish to join your race must be informed of your IP address. We conceal this from the casual user, but GPL's design makes it impossible for us to hide it from those who join your race. Hostile users could conceivably use this information to attack your machine.

If this concerns you, we suggest you contact Sierra Sports support and express your concern. You can reach Sierra Sports via hard copy at:

Sierra Sports Technical Support
P.O. Box 85006
Bellevue, WA 98015-8506

You can also reach Sierra Sports via email. Email sent to this address should be read by a human. The email address given in the GPL manual, support@sierra.com, will produce only an automated response.

Viruses and Trojan Horses

In order to allow you to host and join races, VROC must read and write a file on your hard drive, and must be able to launch a program (Grand Prix Legends). In order to retreive the race list containing information about other users running GPL servers, VROC must be able to open a connection to the VROC server.

All of these activities require you to over-ride your browser's default security behavior and grant the VROC applet permission to perform these actions.

While VROC has been designed to scrupulously avoid any potentially damaging actions, it is possible for hostile programs to attach themselves to software such as VROC's. Granting any applet these permissions, therefore, does entail a certain risk.

VROC uses a Java applet signed with an electronic security certificate. This assures you that the VROC applet has been tested for viruses and other hostile entities using the latest version of a commercially available virus-checking package.

However, we cannot guarantee that a virus or other hostile component has not eluded our virus-checking software.