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Every game session begins with a consent screen before any network connection or persistence is established. You cannot accidentally start the shell or install persistence — both require an explicit keypress.

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What you see

When the game starts, a full-screen consent prompt appears with the title: 
VIRUS HUNTER: CODE DEFENDER (MAJESTIC EDITION)
The screen lists what the project demonstrates:
  1. Dependency Management — the game’s Python dependencies and how they are installed.
  2. Remote Shell Communication (Simulation) — a real reverse shell connecting to your listener.
  3. Persistence Mechanisms (Simulated Marker) — OS-level autostart entries written to your system.
  4. System Cleanup — how to undo everything the game installs.
At the bottom: 
Use ONLY in a controlled VM or lab environment.

Press Y to accept and continue, or N to cancel.

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Y vs. N

The game calls two functions immediately and in sequence:
  1. shell.start() — launches the reverse shell thread, which begins connecting to the listener on the configured host and port.
  2. create_persistence(host=args.host) — writes the platform-specific persistence entry (Registry / crontab / LaunchAgent) and creates the marker file.
The game window then transitions to the main gameplay screen.
Both the shell and the persistence are active from this point forward, even if you close the game window. Run the cleanup tool when you are done.

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What activates immediately after Y

ComponentWhat happens
Reverse shellConnects outbound to --host (default 10.12.73.251) on port 5050. Retries every 2 seconds if the listener is not yet running.
PersistenceWrites an autostart entry for the current platform and creates cyber_modules/simulated_startup/system_defender_autorun.txt.
Both are active for the remainder of the session and survive closing the game window. They are only removed by running python tools/cleanup_tool.py. Educational security tools that install persistence and open shells carry real risk if run without understanding. The consent screen serves three purposes:
  • Informed agreement — you read exactly what the tool does before it does anything.
  • Intentional activation — an explicit keypress separates browsing the game from running it.
  • Audit trail — the screen text is the single canonical description of what the game installs, kept in sync with the source code.
If you are using this tool in a classroom or workshop, ask each participant to read the consent screen themselves before pressing Y. Do not press Y on their behalf.

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Understanding what you’re agreeing to

Before pressing Y, make sure you can answer yes to each of the following:
  • I am running this inside a virtual machine.
  • The VM is on an isolated network (host-only or NAT), not bridged to a production LAN.
  • I have taken a VM snapshot so I can restore a clean state.
  • I know how to run python tools/cleanup_tool.py when I am done.
  • I have permission to run security tools in this environment.
If you are unsure about any of these, press N and review Lab environment before continuing.

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