Security and the Helper Application or Viewer

It is important to realize that the ACUCOBOL-GT runtime is a fully enabled runtime, even when used as a helper application or viewer. Unlike the ACUCOBOL-GT Web Runtime, it does not contain any extra Internet security mechanisms; it has full access to your users' machines, including system calls, memory, disk and network access.

For this reason, you should warn your users not to download COBOL applications from other sources to use with this runtime, unless the applications are from a trusted source. When your users try to download a file of a new type under Netscape, they are warned that the file may contain malicious code or scripting instructions, and they are given a chance to decline the operation. Nevertheless, users should be reminded that their helper application is a full-featured runtime without access limitations.