Privacy Policy


Covsec Limited, a company limited by shares registered in England under company number 08797100 whose registered office is at:

Bell House
The Square, Magor
Wales
NP26 3HY
and operates this website.

What information we collect

  • Non-personal information that’s automatically gathered as you use this site, which includes tracking information for our site.
  • Cookies, to help us understand what areas of the site are most useful and interesting to our audience.

Information you provide directly to us

Non-personal information collected automatically

Tracking information for our site

This type of information relates to how many views are associated with our content; written or recorded, how many times content is saved or favourited, and/or other areas of the site that automatically store non-personal information about the sites’ usage, popularity or positive or negative impact. We perform statistical analyses of users of the site, and their viewing and participation patterns, for product development purposes and to generally inform advertisers about the nature of our audience.

Device information

We may collect non-personal information about the computer, mobile device or other device you use to access Covsec services, such as IP address, geolocation information, unique device identifiers, browser type, browser language and other transactional information.

Information collected with cookies

Tracking usage

We use various technologies, including Google Analytics cookies, to manage covsec.co.uk and track use of the content we provide, including:

Standard web analytics information

Aggregated data about email click-through rates and video viewing.

Information collected through HTML cookies, Flash cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies Demographics and other details that are provided to Covsec to help us customise the site based on your preferences.

Location information

We will collect and use information about your location (such as your country) but we don’t collect any exact data of you or your device.

How we use this information

We use your information for limited purposes and do not sell it to any third parties. Specific uses are defined below.

Providing requested services

We may use the information that we collect to fulfill your requests for services and information. For example, using your contact information to respond to your customer service requests, or to enable registration for one of our conferences.

Communication

We also use the information we collect to send email newsletters, or information about Covsec events (if you have opted in for this information). We may also use the information that we collect to send you e-mail communications, such as information about your account or changes to the site.

Enforcement

We may use the information that we collect to prevent illegal activities, to enforce the covsec.co.uk Terms and Conditions, or as otherwise required by law.

When permitted

In addition to the uses identified above, we may use the information that we collect for any other purposes disclosed to you at the time we collect your information or pursuant to your consent.

Ads on Covsec

We may also share Non-Personally Identifiable Information with our business partners to deliver online advertisements (“ads”) that may be of interest to you. Covsec may allow third-party ad servers or ad networks to serve advertisements on the Service. These third-party ad servers or ad networks use technology to send, directly to your browser or mobile device, the ads and ad links that appear on the Service, and will automatically receive your IP address when they do so. They may also use other technologies (such as cookies, JavaScript, device identifiers, location data, and clear gifs, see above) to compile information about your browser’s or device’s visits and usage patterns on the Service (without using any Personally Identifiable Information), and to measure the effectiveness of their ads and to personalise the advertising content. Covsec does not sell, rent, or share your Personally Identifiable Information with these third-party ad servers or ad networks for such parties’ own marketing purposes, unless you choose in advance to have your information shared for this purpose. However, please note that if an advertiser asks Covsec to show an ad to a certain audience and you respond to such an ad, the advertiser or ad server may conclude that you fit the description of the audience they are trying to reach. The Covsec Privacy Policy does not apply to, and we cannot control the activities of, third-party advertisers. Please consult the respective privacy policies of such advertisers or contact such advertisers for more information.

Steps we take to protect your privacy

To prevent unauthorised access, maintain data accuracy and ensure the appropriate use of information, we put in place commercially reasonable physical, technical and administrative controls to protect your information. Please note that no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure. Remember, when visiting a third-party site from Covsec.co.uk, we do not control the privacy policies of other parties, so please check before browsing on those sites to ensure you agree with their terms.

Changes to this privacy policy

This privacy policy may be amended from time to time. When the policy is updated, the date of the last update will appear at the top of the privacy policy. If we make material changes, you will be notified here for a period of 30-60 days based on our last update.

Other Websites and Services

We are not responsible for the practices employed by websites or services linked to or from the Service, including the information or content contained therein. Please remember that when you use a link to go from the Service to another website, our Privacy Policy does not apply to third-party websites or services. Your browsing and interaction on any third-party website or service, including those that have a link on our website, are subject to that third party’s own rules and policies. In addition, you agree that we are not responsible for and do not control any third parties that you authorise to access your User Content. If you are using a third-party website or service (like Facebook) and you allow such a third party access to your User Content, you do so at your own risk. This Privacy Policy does not apply to information we collect by other means (including offline) or from sources other than through the Service.

Deactivating your account and managing privacy settings

You can request that your account be deactivated at any time. When your account is deactivated, your user profile and all public activities will be hidden apart from your profile photo which will remain within The Dream Gallery. If you are a contributor your articles will remain public along with your profile photo. To unsubscribe from our newsletters, click on the link at the bottom of a newsletter you have received.

General Data Protection Regulation

Data Protection Principles

The organisation processes personal data in accordance with the following data protection principles:
The organisation processes personal data lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner.

  • The organisation collects personal data only for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes.
  • The organisation processes personal data only where it is adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary for the purposes of processing.
  • The organisation keeps accurate personal data and takes all reasonable steps to ensure that inaccurate personal data is rectified or deleted without delay.
  • The organisation keeps personal data only for the period necessary for processing.
  • The organisation adopts appropriate measures to make sure that personal data is secure, and protected against unauthorised or unlawful processing, and accidental loss, destruction or damage.

The organisation tells individuals the reasons for processing their personal data, how it uses such data and the legal basis for processing in its privacy notices. It will not process personal data of individuals for other reasons. Where the organisation relies on its legitimate interests as the basis for processing data, it will carry out an assessment to ensure that those interests are not overridden by the rights and freedoms of individuals.

The Legal Basis on Which We Hold Personal Data

We hold personal data under the following permitted reasons provided by the GDPR- so one of these reasons will apply to your data:
(a) Consent: the individual has given clear consent for you to process their personal data for a specific purpose.
(b) Contract: the processing is necessary for a contract you have with the individual, or because they have asked you to take specific steps before entering into a contract.
(c) Legal obligation: the processing is necessary for you to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations).
(d) Vital interests: the processing is necessary to protect someone's life.
(e) Public task: the processing is necessary for you to perform a task in the public interest or for your official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law.
(f) Legitimate interests: the processing is necessary for your legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party unless there is a good reason to protect the individual's personal data which overrides those legitimate interests.

Individual rights

As a data subject, individuals have a number of rights in relation to their personal data.

Subject access requests

Individuals have the right to make a subject access request. If an individual makes a subject access request, the organisation will tell him/her:

  • whether or not his/her data is processed and if so why, the categories of personal data concerned and the source of the data if it is not collected from the individual;
  • to whom his/her data is or may be disclosed, including to recipients located outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and the safeguards that apply to such transfers;
  • for how long his/her personal data is stored (or how that period is decided);
  • his/her rights to rectification or erasure of data, or to restrict or object to processing;
  • his/her right to complain to the Information Commissioner if he/she thinks the organisation has failed to comply with his/her data protection rights; and
  • whether or not the organisation carries out automated decision-making and the logic involved in any such decision-making.

The organisation will also provide the individual with a copy of the personal data undergoing processing. This will normally be in electronic form if the individual has made a request electronically, unless he/she agrees otherwise. To make a subject access request, the individual should send the request to [email address] or use the organisation's form for making a subject access request. In some cases, the organisation may need to ask for proof of identification before the request can be processed. The organisation will inform the individual if it needs to verify his/her identity and the documents it requires. The organisation will normally respond to a request within a period of one month from the date it is received. In some cases, such as where the organisation processes large amounts of the individual's data, it may respond within three months of the date the request is received. The organisation will write to the individual within one month of receiving the original request to tell him/her if this is the case. If a subject access request is manifestly unfounded or excessive, the organisation is not obliged to comply with it. Alternatively, the organisation can agree to respond but will charge a fee, which will be based on the administrative cost of responding to the request. A subject access request is likely to be manifestly unfounded or excessive where it repeats a request to which the organisation has already responded. If an individual submits a request that is unfounded or excessive, the organisation will notify him/her that this is the case and whether or not it will respond to it.

Other rights

Individuals have a number of other rights in relation to their personal data. They can require the organisation to:

  • rectify inaccurate data;
  • stop processing or erase data that is no longer necessary for the purposes of processing;
  • stop processing or erase data if the individual's interests override the organisation's legitimate grounds for processing data (where the organisation relies on its legitimate interests as a reason for processing data);
  • stop processing or erase data if processing is unlawful; and
  • stop processing data for a period if data is inaccurate or if there is a dispute about whether or not the individual's interests override the organisation's legitimate grounds for processing data.

To ask the organisation to take any of these steps, the individual should send the request to the email address on our website.

Data security

The organisation takes the security of personal data seriously. The organisation has internal policies and controls in place to protect personal data against loss, accidental destruction, misuse or disclosure, and to ensure that data is not accessed, except by employees in the proper performance of their duties.

Data breaches

If the organisation discovers that there has been a breach of personal data that poses a risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals, it will report it to the Information Commissioner within 72 hours of discovery. The organisation will record all data breaches regardless of their effect.

Individual responsibilities

Individuals are responsible for helping the organisation keep their personal data up to date. Individuals should let the organisation know if data provided to the organisation changes, for example if an individual moves house or changes his/her bank details.

Individuals may have access to the personal data of other individuals [and of our customers and clients] in the course of their [employment, contract, volunteer period, internship or apprenticeship]. Where this is the case, the organisation relies on individuals to help meet its data protection obligations to staff [and to customers and clients].

Individuals who have access to personal data are required:

  • to access only data that they have authority to access and only for authorised purposes;
  • not to disclose data except to individuals (whether inside or outside the organisation) who have appropriate authorisation;
  • to keep data secure (for example by complying with rules on access to premises, computer access, including password protection, and secure file storage and destruction);
  • not to remove personal data, or devices containing or that can be used to access personal data, from the organisation's premises without adopting appropriate security measures (such as encryption or password protection) to secure the data and the device;
  • not to store personal data on local drives or on personal devices that are used for work purposes; and
  • to report data breaches of which they become aware to [name of individual/the data protection officer] immediately.

Failing to observe these requirements may amount to a disciplinary offence, which will be dealt with under the organisation's disciplinary procedure. Significant or deliberate breaches of this policy, such as accessing employee or customer data without authorisation or a legitimate reason to do so, may constitute gross misconduct and could lead to dismissal without notice.