Privacy policy

This policy explains what personal information CyberThreats.au collects and how we handle it. We aim to handle personal information in line with the Australian Privacy Principles.

What we collect

When you visit the site. We keep our own basic site statistics, which don’t use cookies, described under Site statistics below. With your consent, we use cookies and similar technologies from third parties: Google Analytics to understand how the site is used (Google Analytics), and advertising and affiliate partners such as Google AdSense and Amazon Associates (Advertising and Affiliate links). Our cookie policy lists them. Fonts and other files are served from our own domain. Like all websites, our hosting provider automatically processes technical information when you visit, such as your IP address, browser type and the pages requested, so the site can be delivered and protected from abuse.

When you use our checklists and quiz. These tools run entirely in your browser. Your answers aren’t sent to us or anyone else. Our site statistics record only that a tool was started or finished, never your answers or results. Downloaded PDFs are created on your own device.

When you contact us. If you email us, we receive your email address, your name if you include it, and whatever you write. We use it only to reply and to improve the site, for example to fix a reported error.

We don’t knowingly collect sensitive information. Please don’t send us passwords, codes, account numbers or identity documents; we will never ask for them.

Site statistics

We run our own simple statistics so we can see which pages are read, which guides need improving and which topics people search for. It’s built into this website and runs on our own hosting. No outside company receives these statistics.

What is recorded. When a page loads, a small script on our site sends us:

• the page address, without anything after a “?” in the address
• the page title
• the name of the website you came from, such as google.com, but not the full address of the page you came from
• your browser’s time zone setting, which we use to estimate your state or territory, or your country if you’re outside Australia
• your browser’s language setting
• a rough screen size category (phone, tablet or desktop)

The script also records a few actions on our pages:

• downloads, by file name
• that a checklist or quiz was started or finished, but never the answers or results
• words typed into our site search, converted to lower case with numbers, email addresses and web addresses removed, and whether the search found anything (please don’t type names or other personal details into the search box)
• clicks on links to other websites, recording only the other site’s name (such as scamwatch.gov.au) and the kind of link, for example a link to an official service
• clicks on our “Get help” links
• the address of any page that couldn’t be found, with anything that looks like an email address or a long number removed

We also count anonymous Yes or No answers to “Was this guide helpful?”, together with the address of the page.

Our server adds the date and time, and works out the device type and browser family (for example “phone” and “Safari”) from the information your browser sends. It doesn’t keep that browser information itself.

How we count visitors without tracking you. To count how many different visitors we have each day, our server combines your IP address and your browser’s identifying information with a random value, and turns them into a one-way code. Only the code is stored. Your IP address and browser information are not stored. The random value is replaced every day and the old one is deleted, so codes from different days can’t be matched, and we don’t recognise you when you come back on another day. Within a single day, the code shows us that several pages were viewed by the same browser. We don’t use it to identify anyone, and we don’t combine it with any other information.

What we don’t do. The statistics don’t use cookies, and they don’t store anything in your browser. We don’t use your IP address to work out your location. We don’t record what you type into our checklists or quiz, and we don’t share, sell or use these statistics for advertising.

Your choices. If your browser sends a Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal, the script doesn’t send anything. Blocking JavaScript also stops it. Our tools and guides work the same either way.

Storage and retention. The statistics are stored in a private file on our web hosting account. The site owner views them through a password-protected page that isn’t public. Detailed records are deleted after about 400 days. After that we keep only daily totals, such as the number of views a page had on a given day, which don’t include the daily visitor codes.

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics, a service provided by Google, to understand how visitors use the site, such as which pages are viewed and how people find us. It’s only used if you choose Accept on our cookie banner. You can change your choice at any time with Cookie settings at the bottom of every page.

What happens if you accept. Your browser loads Google’s analytics script, and Google Analytics sets two first-party cookies on our domain, _ga and _ga_<ID>, which Google says are used to distinguish users and to keep session state, with a default expiry of two years. Google receives information about your visit, such as the pages you view, your browser and device type, the website you came from and an approximate location. Google uses your IP address to estimate your location. Google describes how it handles IP addresses and how it uses information from sites that use its services in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services. We also send Google Analytics a few site events: file downloads, when a checklist is started or finished (never your answers) and anonymous “Was this guide helpful?” answers.

How it’s set up. We use Google Analytics to measure how the site is used. Google may store and process this information outside Australia, including in the United States. We may change Google Analytics settings over time, for example to link it with Google advertising products; if that changes what is collected, we’ll update this policy first.

Your choices. You can decline on our banner, change your choice with Cookie settings, delete cookies in your browser, or use Google’s Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal, we treat that as declining and don’t show the banner. See our cookie policy for details.

Advertising

The site may show ads served by advertising networks, including Google AdSense. As Google describes it:

• Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to this website or other websites.
• Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to users based on their visit to this site and other sites on the internet.

Advertising cookies are only set with your consent where the law requires it. You can opt out of personalised advertising from Google by visiting Google’s Ads Settings, and you can opt out of some other vendors’ use of cookies for personalised advertising at aboutads.info/choices. Google explains how it uses information from sites that show its ads in How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services. Where other ad networks serve ads on this site, we’ll name them in our cookie policy with links to their own opt-outs.

Ad networks receive information such as the page you’re viewing, your browser and device type, your IP address and cookie identifiers. They handle it under their own privacy policies and may store it outside Australia.

Affiliate links

Some links on this site may be affiliate links, for example to Amazon through the Amazon Associates programme. If you click one, the seller’s website may set its own cookies so it can tell that you came from CyberThreats.au and pay us a commission if you buy something. We don’t receive your name, payment details or what you bought; we may receive commission reports from the programme. The seller’s own privacy policy applies on its website. See our advertising and affiliate disclosure.

How we use and share information

We use the information above only to run and protect the site and to respond to you. We don’t sell personal information. We share it only with service providers and partners we need to run and fund the site, such as our hosting and email providers, Google (for analytics and advertising) and affiliate programmes, or where the law requires it. These providers may store or process information outside Australia, including in the United States.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time, for example when we add a new advertising or affiliate partner, a newsletter or another service. The date at the top shows when it was last updated. We’ll update this policy before changing what our own site statistics record.

Security

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information we hold from misuse, loss and unauthorised access. No method of transmission over the internet is completely secure.

Access, correction and complaints

You can ask to access or correct personal information we hold about you, or make a privacy complaint, using our contact page. If you’re not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner at oaic.gov.au.