HavocLab

Privacy & Terms

By accessing or using HavocLab, you agree to be bound by these terms. If you do not agree with any of this, close the tab. No hard feelings.

Age

You must be at least 13 to use HavocLab, or 16 if you are in the EU. If we learn you are not, the account goes. Why are you debugging distributed systems at 13 anyway? Come back when the pager is legally yours.

What This Costs

Nothing. HavocLab is a free, non-commercial project. There is nothing to buy, no ads, no paid tier, no premium anything. If a page ever asks for your card, it is not us.

What We Store

Your email, your handle. If you authenticate with a password, an encrypted hash of it. If you use GitHub or Google SSO, we only store the verified email and username they gave us. Beyond that, your simulation runs, your leaderboard entries, and anything you post in discussions.

Playing as a Guest

Guest mode is an account with a random handle and a placeholder address that can't receive mail. Your runs are stored like anyone else's. Sign up later and they follow you over. Don't, and the whole thing is deleted 30 days after your last visit.

Who Else Touches Your Data

A short cast of outsiders, none of whom get to keep anything. Cloudflare sees your IP and runs the bot screen when you sign in. Resend is the courier for your verification and reset emails, so it holds your address just long enough to deliver. Google and GitHub, if you use them, pass along the email and username you approved. We do not sell your data, and there is not an ad network within a mile of this place.

Cookies

Just a session cookie that keeps you signed in. No analytics cookies, no trackers, no pixels, nobody following you around the internet because you burned down a database. Cloudflare's doorman may leave a short-lived crumb to check you are human at sign-in, but that one isn't watching you either.

What's Public

Your username, your surviving designs, and your best costs appear on scenario leaderboards. Your discussion posts are visible to other signed-in users. Your email is never shown to anyone.

Data Deletion

Settings → Delete account. It removes your account, your runs, your leaderboard entries and the telemetry. Discussion threads and replies you wrote stay and are shown under “[deleted]”. If you only want a clean slate rather than an exit, Settings → Reset progress wipes your runs and leaderboard entries while keeping the account. Want a copy of your data before any of it goes? Email us and we'll send you an export.

What You Post

You own what you write in discussions. By posting it, you give us permission to show it to other signed-in users, which is the entire job of a forum. You are responsible for your own words. Keep them yours, keep them legal. Do not paste anything you would hate to see quoted back to you.

Rules of Engagement

Be a reasonable human in discussions. We remove abuse and may ban repeat offenders. Consider it the one circuit breaker we operate by hand.

Copyright & Takedowns

Post only what is yours to post. If you believe something here infringes your copyright, email [email protected] with a description of the work, where it lives on the site, your contact details, and a statement, made under penalty of perjury, that you own it or are authorized to act for the owner. We remove infringing content and terminate repeat infringers.

Scenarios, Names & Trademarks

The scenarios are dramatized, simplified teaching exercises inspired by publicly reported incidents. HavocLab is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any company named or referenced. Company and product names belong to their owners and are used only to identify the real event and comment on it. All characters are fictional. Any resemblance to real people is coincidental.

Security & Audits

We built this platform with standard security practices (hashed passwords, parameterized queries, TLS in transit). However, we are engineers, not a compliance firm. This platform has not been audited by a third party, and we do not guarantee absolute security. We make our best effort to protect your data, but if a zero-day drops and the database leaks, we are not liable. Don't use your banking password here.

Warranty Disclaimer

HavocLab is provided "as is" and "as available." To the maximum extent permitted by law, we disclaim all warranties, express or implied, including the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose.We make no promise that the simulator will be uninterrupted, error-free, or completely secure.

Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, in no event shall the creators, maintainers, or hosts of HavocLab be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits, revenues, or data, arising out of your access to or use of the platform.And since it is free, the most we could ever owe you is exactly what you paid to use HavocLab: nothing.

Your Mess, Your Cleanup

If something you post or do here drags us into a legal dispute, that one is yours. You agree to cover the creators, maintainers, and hosts of HavocLab against claims, losses, or costs arising from your content, misuse of the platform by you or anyone using your account, or your breach of these terms.

We Can Pull the Plug

We may suspend or close any account, remove content, or shut HavocLab down entirely, at any time and for any reason, without notice and without owing you anything. It is a free hobby project, not a service you are entitled to.

Changes

These terms change as the platform does. The date at the bottom is the version you are bound by; if we change something that matters, that date moves with it. Keep using HavocLab and you are agreeing to the current one.

If One Part Falls Over

If a court finds any part of these terms unenforceable, the rest keep running. One failed node does not take down the cluster.

Governing Law

These terms and your use of HavocLab are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to its conflict of laws principles.

Contact

For all other concerns, email [email protected]

Found a bug or a feature idea? Open an issue on the feedback repo. We read them.

Last updated July 2026