1. What Are Cookies
Cookies are small text files that are stored on your device (computer, tablet, smartphone, or other electronic device) when you visit our website or use our services. They help us provide you with a better, more personalized experience by remembering your preferences, settings, and enabling certain functionality.
Similar technologies include web beacons, pixel tags, local storage, session storage, and other tracking technologies that serve similar purposes to cookies.
2. How We Use Cookies
SECConnect uses cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
- Essential website functionality, security, and user authentication
- Remembering your preferences, settings, and customization choices
- Analyzing website performance, usage patterns, and user behavior
- Providing personalized security recommendations and threat intelligence
- Improving our services, user experience, and product development
- Enabling social media integration and content sharing features
- Facilitating customer support and troubleshooting
- Conducting security research and threat analysis
- Complying with legal obligations and regulatory requirements
3. Types of Cookies We Use
3.1 Essential Cookies
These cookies are necessary for the website to function properly and cannot be disabled without severely affecting your experience:
- Authentication cookies: Keep you securely logged in and maintain your session
- Security cookies: Protect against cross-site request forgery and other security threats
- Load balancing cookies: Ensure optimal performance and distribute traffic efficiently
- Session cookies: Maintain your session state and temporary preferences
- CSRF protection cookies: Prevent unauthorized actions on your behalf
- Feature toggle cookies: Enable or disable specific features based on your account
3.2 Functional Cookies
These cookies enhance your experience by remembering your choices and personalizing your interactions:
- Preference cookies: Remember your dashboard layout, display settings, and user preferences
- Language cookies: Store your language selection and regional settings
- Theme cookies: Remember your display preferences (dark mode, light mode, etc.)
- Notification cookies: Track your notification preferences and delivery settings
- Accessibility cookies: Store accessibility settings and accommodations
- Tutorial cookies: Remember which help guides and tutorials you've completed
3.3 Analytics Cookies
These cookies help us understand how visitors use our website and services to improve performance:
- Usage analytics: Track page views, user interactions, and navigation patterns
- Performance monitoring: Monitor website speed, errors, and technical issues
- Feature usage: Understand which features are most valuable and frequently used
- A/B testing: Test improvements and new features with different user groups
- Conversion tracking: Measure the effectiveness of our marketing and user flows
- Error tracking: Identify and diagnose technical problems and bugs
3.4 Security Cookies
These cookies are specifically used for security monitoring and threat detection:
- Threat detection: Identify suspicious activity patterns and potential security risks
- Device fingerprinting: Recognize your trusted devices and detect anomalies
- Behavioral analysis: Detect unusual user behavior that may indicate account compromise
- Risk assessment: Evaluate security risk levels for different actions and transactions
- Fraud prevention: Identify and prevent fraudulent activities and unauthorized access
- Bot detection: Distinguish between human users and automated systems
3.5 Marketing Cookies
These cookies are used to deliver relevant advertisements and measure marketing effectiveness:
- Advertising cookies: Show relevant ads based on your interests and behavior
- Retargeting cookies: Display personalized ads on other websites you visit
- Campaign tracking: Measure the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns
- Social media cookies: Enable social sharing and track social media interactions
4. Third-Party Cookies
We may use third-party services that set their own cookies on your device. These services help us provide better functionality and insights:
4.1 Analytics Services
- Google Analytics: Website usage analytics and user behavior insights
- Hotjar: User behavior analysis, heatmaps, and session recordings
- Mixpanel: Advanced product analytics and user engagement tracking
- Amplitude: User journey analysis and conversion optimization
4.2 Security Services
- Cloudflare: DDoS protection, performance optimization, and security monitoring
- reCAPTCHA: Bot detection and prevention of automated abuse
- Okta: Identity and access management services
- Auth0: Authentication and authorization services
4.3 Support Services
- Intercom: Customer support chat and messaging platform
- Zendesk: Help desk functionality and customer service tools
- Freshworks: Customer relationship management and support
4.4 Payment Services
- Stripe: Payment processing and fraud detection
- PayPal: Alternative payment processing
- Chargebee: Subscription billing and management
5. Cookie Duration
Cookies have different lifespans depending on their purpose:
- Session cookies: Automatically deleted when you close your browser
- Persistent cookies: Remain on your device for a set period (typically 30 days to 2 years)
- Security cookies: May persist longer (up to 5 years) for effective threat detection
- Analytics cookies: Usually expire after 2 years but may be refreshed with continued use
- Marketing cookies: Typically expire after 30-90 days
6. Managing Your Cookie Preferences
6.1 Browser Settings
You can control cookies through your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to:
- Block all cookies (may significantly affect website functionality)
- Block third-party cookies only while allowing first-party cookies
- Delete existing cookies from your device
- Set preferences for specific websites and domains
- Receive notifications when cookies are being set
- Set automatic deletion of cookies when closing the browser
6.2 Our Cookie Preferences Center
You can manage your cookie preferences through our cookie banner or by accessing the cookie settings in your account dashboard. Note that disabling certain cookies may limit website functionality and your ability to use some features.
6.3 Opt-Out Tools
For marketing and advertising cookies, you can use industry opt-out tools:
- Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) opt-out page
- Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) opt-out page
- European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA) opt-out page
- Google Ads Settings for Google advertising cookies
7. Browser-Specific Instructions
7.1 Google Chrome
- Click the three dots menu (⋮) → Settings
- Go to Privacy and security → Cookies and other site data
- Choose your preferred cookie settings and exceptions
- Manage cookies for specific sites under "Sites that can always use cookies"
7.2 Mozilla Firefox
- Click the menu button (☰) → Options (or Preferences)
- Select Privacy & Security from the left panel
- Under Cookies and Site Data, choose your preferred settings
- Click "Manage Data" to view and delete specific cookies
7.3 Safari
- Go to Safari → Preferences (or Settings on iOS)
- Click the Privacy tab
- Choose your cookie and tracking prevention settings
- Use "Manage Website Data" to view and remove specific cookies
7.4 Microsoft Edge
- Click the three dots menu (⋯) → Settings
- Go to Cookies and site permissions
- Click "Cookies and site data" to manage settings
- Use "See all cookies and site data" to manage individual cookies
8. Mobile Devices
For mobile browsers and applications, cookie settings are typically found in:
- iOS Safari: Settings → Safari → Privacy & Security
- Android Chrome: Chrome app → Settings → Privacy and security
- Mobile apps: In-app privacy settings or device-level privacy controls
You can also manage advertising preferences through your device settings (iOS: Settings → Privacy → Apple Advertising; Android: Settings → Google → Ads).
9. Do Not Track
We respect Do Not Track (DNT) signals where technically feasible and legally required. However, some essential cookies are necessary for security and basic functionality and cannot be disabled even with DNT enabled. We will honor DNT signals for non-essential tracking and analytics cookies.
10. International Considerations
Cookie laws vary by jurisdiction. We comply with applicable regulations including:
- GDPR (European Union): Requires explicit consent for non-essential cookies
- CCPA (California): Provides rights regarding personal information collection
- PIPEDA (Canada): Governs personal information handling practices
- ePrivacy Directive: Regulates electronic communications and cookies
11. Updates to This Cookie Policy
We may update this Cookie Policy to reflect changes in our practices, technologies, or applicable laws. We will notify you of significant changes through:
- Updated cookie banners and consent mechanisms
- Email notifications to registered users
- In-app notifications and announcements
- Updated "last modified" date at the top of this policy
- Prominent notices on our website homepage
Your continued use of our services after policy updates constitutes acceptance of the revised Cookie Policy.
12. Contact Us
If you have questions about our use of cookies or this Cookie Policy, please contact us:
