Privacy policy

Updated

This policy explains what personal information CertVista ("we", "us") collects when you use certvista.com, why we collect it, who we share it with, and the choices you have. If you have questions, contact us.

In short: we collect only what we need to run your account, your practice exams and your purchases. We don't use advertising or analytics trackers, we don't sell your information, and we don't send marketing emails.

What we collect

Your account. When you register, we collect your email address and a password. We store the password only as a secure hash, never in readable form. We also keep data needed to protect your account, such as whether your email is confirmed and recent failed sign-in attempts.

Your practice exams. When you take a practice exam, we store the exam, your answers, your progress and your results so you can continue later and see your statistics. If you're signed in, this is linked to your account. Free demos don't need an account.

Your purchases. Payments are handled by Stripe on its own checkout page. We never see or store your card details. From Stripe we receive and keep which exam you bought, when, the email address used at checkout, and Stripe's payment and customer references.

Messages you send us. When you use the contact form, we receive your email address, the subject, the category and your message. When you email us directly, we receive whatever you include in the email.

Technical information. Like most websites, our servers record technical details of each visit: your IP address, browser type, the page you came from, the page you requested, and the time. When something goes wrong, we record an error report with technical details of the request that failed.

Cookies and browser storage. We use only the cookies needed for the site to work, such as keeping you signed in, and we save exam progress in your browser. See our cookie policy for the full list.

What we don't collect. We don't ask for your name, phone number, postal address or precise location, and we don't collect sensitive information such as health data or political views. We don't offer sign-in with social media accounts, and we don't use advertising or analytics trackers.

If you're in the European Economic Area, the UK or Switzerland, data protection law requires a legal basis for each use of your information. We use it to:

  • Provide your account and the exams you have access to. Basis: performing our contract with you.
  • Process payments and keep purchase records. Basis: performing our contract with you, and our legal obligation to keep accounting and tax records.
  • Send account emails, such as confirming your email address and resetting your password. Basis: performing our contract with you. We don't send marketing emails.
  • Answer your messages. Basis: our legitimate interest in responding to people who contact us.
  • Keep the service secure and working, including preventing abuse and fixing errors. Basis: our legitimate interest in running a secure, reliable service.

We don't use your information for automated decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects on you.

Who we share it with

We share personal information only with service providers that help us run CertVista, and only as much as they need:

  • Stripe processes payments. See Stripe's privacy policy.
  • Hosting and database providers run our servers and store your account, exam and purchase records.
  • Email providers send our account emails and host the inbox where your messages to us arrive.
  • An error-monitoring service receives technical error reports so we can find and fix problems.

These providers may use your information only to provide their service to us.

We may also disclose information when the law requires it, to protect our rights or the safety of others, or to a buyer or successor if CertVista is sold or merged.

We don't sell your personal information, and we don't share it for advertising.

International transfers

CertVista's servers and database are in the United States, so if you use CertVista from another country, including from the EEA, the UK or Switzerland, your information is transferred to and stored in the US. Some of our service providers also process data in the US or other countries. Where data protection law requires it, these transfers rely on appropriate safeguards, such as the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses or the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.

How long we keep it

  • Account and exam history: for as long as you have an account.
  • Purchase records: for as long as accounting and tax law requires, even if you delete your account.
  • Messages you send us: for as long as we need them to handle your request.
  • Server logs and error reports: for a limited period, for security and troubleshooting.
  • Exam progress saved in your browser: until you clear the site data for certvista.com.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you have the right to access the personal information we hold about you, get a copy of it, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to how we use it, and withdraw any consent you've given.

You can do most of this yourself when you're signed in:

For anything else, contact us. We'll respond within one month and may need to confirm your identity first.

If you're in the EEA, the UK or Switzerland and you think we've handled your information unlawfully, you can complain to your local data protection authority. In the UK, that's the Information Commissioner's Office.

California and other US states. In the past 12 months we have collected identifiers (your email address and IP address), commercial information (your purchases) and internet activity (the server logs described above), for the purposes in this policy. We don't sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising. You can ask us to access, correct or delete your information, and we won't treat you differently for doing so. Because we don't track you across sites, browser signals such as Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control don't change how we handle your data.

Security

All connections to certvista.com use HTTPS, passwords are stored only as secure hashes, and access to personal information is limited to what's needed to run the service. No system is completely secure, so we can't guarantee that information will never be accessed without permission.

Children

CertVista is meant for people aged 18 and over. We don't knowingly collect information from children. If you believe a child has given us personal information, contact us and we'll delete it.

Changes to this policy

When we change this policy, we'll update the date at the top of this page. If a change significantly affects how we use your information, we'll tell you by email or with a notice on the site.

Contact us

For questions about this policy or your personal information, use the contact form. If you can't use the form, email admin@certvista.com.

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