At BeEncrypted, we understand the importance of data security, and for this reason, we strive to provide free extensive research on network security, data privacy, and VPN encryption. We also provide free guides to train customers to protect their data from intruders. Every day, we update our guides on how readers can defend themselves using encryption because we believe encryption is the most secure form of data protection.
Not only do we educate readers, but we also ensure that we respect the privacy and concerns of visitors to our website. Our Privacy Policy tells you how we gather personal information, what types we collect, how we use and disclose them, and the measures we take to protect consumer information.
Whenever you visit this site, understand that the BeEncrypted.com Privacy Policy is in effect while you use BeEncrypted. We aim to increase your trust in our company with this policy and the services we render to improve your overall experience.
Therefore, following the industry regulations and standards enforced by state and federal governments, we comply with this Privacy Policy.
Information Collection and Usage
This Privacy Policy applies to everyone who uses our products or services and those who have visited our website, which BeEncrypted, a ‘FOR PROFIT’ information technology company, owns. Note that this policy only applies to this website and other services that BeEncrypted.com controls for the means or purposes of processing your personal information.
This policy would not apply to websites or services managed by other organizations to which BeEncrypted links or business partners that get your personal information through us, as service providers, according to your request, for their product or services. However, information collected by BeEncrypted.com on behalf of a third party acting as a service provider may be subject to both this privacy policy and the third party’s privacy policy.
Consider reading these organizations or companies’ respective privacy to gather more information on their personal information practices and users’ rights. Personal information refers to details that describe, identify and are relatively capable of being associated with, linked, or related to a human being or family. It may include a real name, telephone number, e-mail address, payment information, account ID, and postal address.
Any other information directly related to personal information is also considered personal. Conversely, any de-identified, anonymized, or aggregated information would not fall under personal information. Also, as defined by the applicable legal framework, any publicly available information may fall outside the umbrella of personal information.
A distinctive fraction of personal information we collect is “sensitive personal information”, as described by the law in force, and may include the categories we have provided below. In addition, we may gather, use, share, or store the following categories of personal information, either online or over the phone, automatically, directly from you, or from third parties, as described in this Privacy Policy.
Personal Information
- full name,
- telephone number (primary and secondary),
- e-mail address,
- internet protocol (IP) address,
- postal address,
- shipping address,
- information relating to payment, including bank account or credit card information,
- customer record information, including caller automation number identification (ANI), account number, and service address,
- voice recordings from calls with our representatives (apart from payment-related information), and
- information relating to internet activity, such as interaction with an advert,
- and other information collected from clear gifs and cookies, as described below
Sensitive Personal Information
| Types of Sensitive Information | Is this collected? | How will it be used | How long is it retained? |
| Consumers’ social security, state identification card, driver’s license, or passport number | Only in certain situations | For the processing of sales | It does not store information on the system, only used to verify eligibility |
| Account login information for the consumer, including any debit card or credit card number combined with any password, security code, or details needed to access such account | Only when access is required | Login information is used to identify active users on the website requiring login | This information remains as long as the user is active. Once a user deletes the account, their information clears from the site. |
| Consumers’ precise information | No | N/A | N/A |
| Consumers’ ethnicity, race, origin, religion, union memberships, or philosophical beliefs | No | N/A | N/A |
| Consumers’ mail and text message content, unless the business is the planned recipient | No | N/A | N/A |
| Data on consumers’ genetics | No | N/A | N/A |
| Processing of biometrics required to identify a consumer uniquely | No | N/A | N/A |
| Information about consumers’ health and medical diagnosis | No | N/A | N/A |
| Information on consumers’ sex life or sexual orientation | No | N/A | N/A |
| Information on consumers’ citizenship and citizenship or immigration status | No | N/A | N/A |
| Personal information from a known child | No | N/A | N/A |
While we only use personal information for business purposes. We do not share this information.
Although, you have the right to ask that we limit using your personal information by filling out the “Limit the Use of My Sensitive Personal Information” form. You can find the link to this form at the end of this Private Policy webpage or by mailing us at aq@beencrypted.com.
If you live in Virginia or Colorado, under state laws, we do not collect sensitive data from you without your consent. However, you can consent to collecting and using your sensitive information here and now by filling out the “Consent to Use My Sensitive Information for Virginia and Colorado Residents” form at the end of this webpage.
Usually, we collect your personal information (which includes sensitive and other personal information) when you:
- Register to receive communications from this site or any site directly linked to the company that owns BeEncrypted.com.
- Look for information or request services or products on this or any other website owned by the owner of BeEncrypted.com.
- Apply for promotions or sweepstakes on this site or a website owned by the owner of BeEncrypted.com.
- Give personal information through surveys, feedback, or other questionnaires on this website or the website owned by the owner of BeEncrypted.com.
- Contact our representatives.
- visit our website or through cookies and clear gifs.
The primary reasons why we collect consumers’ information include the following:
- to process and confirm your requests for products, services, and information
- to get your feedback and opinion
- to do research
- to curate the advertisement and content you get
- to upgrade products and services
- to get anonymous reporting for external and internal clients.
We may also receive consumer-related data from unaffiliated third-party marketing companies and tracking service providers. We may gather the information through those means and add it to your account. We also receive and record certain information automatically whenever you open the site, like every other website. Utilising “cookies” and other information, we can enhance your experience and curate personalised offers to customers.
With the aid of third-party advert organisations, we distribute and monitor advertisements on our website. These companies can use action tags or cookies to scale the effectiveness of advertisements. Find more information on cookies and IP addresses in the appropriate sections below.
BeEncrypted.com retains the right to receive additional consumer information at any point. These changes would be effected accordingly in this Privacy policy.
Job Applicants
If you apply for a job, we will collect additional details regarding your application. The details may include the following:
- full name, e-mail, telephone number, Linkedin, and other URLs
- gender, race, and veteran status (if you choose to provide it to us)
- work authorization status or sponsorship requirement
- current employer
- resume, work experience, and education information, including your cover letter
- professional skills
- professional certifications, licenses, and permits
- reference-related information
- other available information online or any that you provide to us
We may collect this information from you directly, your references, a recruiter, your previous employers, and your educational institutions. This information aims to verify your eligibility by processing your application and evaluating your qualifications, complying with legal regulations and requirements.
Cookies and IP Addresses
We use the “cookies” technology to serve consumers more effectively and efficiently. Typically, cookie refers to data stored on the visitor’s hard drive containing information about them.
Cookies are linked to specific devices with time. We do not, however, link personal information collected from cookies to other personal information collected from other sources. These cookies allow a website to curate content for each user and speed up the loading of web pages on your device.
Cookies help collate data to track customers’ data to optimize the experience on the website. We may also gather data from our partner’s websites related to any activity involving the confirmation of offers available on our website.
Although you may still use our website if you reject cookies on our website, the difference is that you become unable to use some areas on it. We also record internet protocol (IP) addresses and may disclose your IP address while performing our normal business. An IP address is an identification number used by computers on the network that pinpoints your device once you connect to the internet or a local network.
Browsers or devices usually offer options to set or delete browser cookies. You can visit your browser or device guide material to get more information on these controls and how to set your cookie settings.
Visit http://www.allaboutcookies.org if you want to get more information about cookies.
We grant some advertisers and non-affiliated business partners permission to use cookies on our website. However, we cannot access or control the information collected from such cookies. Therefore, our Privacy Policy covers the use of this website’s cookies only, without providing for the use of cookies by any advertiser.
Clear Gifs
We utilize software technology to better manage content on our website by distinguishing the effective content. This technology is called clear gifs. They are tiny graphics with a distinct identifier, similar to cookies in function.
With clear gifs, we can track how consumers move on the website. We also use it in our HTML-based e-mails to track e-mails and discover messages that recipients have opened. With this data, we can evaluate the effectiveness of the adopted communications and marketing strategies.
Users have the option to opt out of these e-mails. Choose the Opt-out option on any mail you receive from us.
Information Selling and Sharing
Sale of Your Personal Information
We never sell any of your information or share it (unless provided for by the California Privacy Rights Act or other applicable laws). In some cases, including for targeted advertising (as provided for by the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act and the Colorado Privacy Act), consumers’ personal information might be shared with the following categories of third parties under the following circumstances:
- Partners, service providers, sponsors, marketers, reference services, and other institutions that BeEncrypted.com perceives as capable of providing consumers with unique opportunities and offers. They may include direct marketing services and application providers, including data enhancement, lookup and reference, e-mail marketing, and suppression and validation. However, we will share this information only after you’ve agreed. For example, if you request a quote from a specific company, we may share your details with the company to process your request.
- Also, BeEncrypted.com can share aggregated information with companies willing to reach specific consumer target audiences. For example, a target is 1,000,000 middle-aged men working in finance. Gathering data helps these businesses grant consumers optimum satisfaction.
BeEncrypted.com prohibits the sale or sharing of personal information to a non-affiliated institution from improving its services without allowing consumers to opt out. While BeEncrypted encourages consumers to support this Privacy Policy, especially those to receive personal information from the website, it has no control over what the third party does with the information. Therefore, it would not also be liable for the failure of any third party to adhere to this Privacy Policy.
Other Transfers of Information to Third Parties
While we would not sell or share information with third parties as defined by the applicable law, we may transfer information to them in the following scenarios:
- When consumers ask for quotes or request to be contacted through BeEncrypted.com, or other websites we operate, then they permit us to give the following information to our business partners who may contact you by (i) phone, which includes and is not limited to any pre-recorded telephone call to any telephone number, including without any limitation to any wireless telephone number, which could result in you incurring charges. (ii) SMS text, (iii) e-mail, (iv) mail. We may contact you via any of the means above. Ensure you notify the representative directly if you want to avoid future communication.
- We may collaborate with third-party vendors or non-affiliated companies to manage sections of the BeEncrypted.com website or to provide specific services such as information processing, shipping, and clerical services. This portion of the website may share a similar interface with the BeEncrypted.com website, and information that consumers submit on this site is liable to this Privacy Policy unless otherwise stated. When you register for our services, we only share the information you need while providing these services. We expect that third parties working with BeEncrypted.com adhere to the Privacy Policy to keep data safe and secure. They are not allowed to use or share consumers’ information for any purpose other than the job they were employed to do.
- With other people if we deem it fit necessary to (i) adhere to applicable laws, (ii) obey governmental inquiries, (iii) follow valid legal processes, (iv) protect the rights and property of BeEncrypted.com and others linked to it.
- Linked to, or during, the negotiation of any merger, acquisition, sale of the company’s stock or asset, divestiture, dissolution, or financing of all or a part of the business. This Privacy Policy becomes binding on the successor unless it is amended as described by the policy.
Advertisements and Pop-Ups
We do not offer companies any advertising slots or options, so you will not see any advertisements on our site except the affiliate links.
Regarding affiliates, such as VPN providers, you can find additional information on the website of the individual business or its advertising initiative. Usually, the third party’s privacy policy governs consumer transactions, transactions, and other opt-out requests, not BeEncrypted.com’s Privacy Policy.
BeEncryted.com Marketing Opting-Out
We provide choices when we ask consumers for their personal information whenever possible. By opting out, you can prevent us from using your personal information for specific actions. For example, consumers can decline to fill in personal information or refuse cookies in their browsers, although some services or functions may be unavailable.
Likewise, you can unsubscribe to avoid getting promotional communications or newsletters again. Follow the instructions included in the promotional communication or send an e-mail to the contact address to unsubscribe. However, it may take effect 10 business days after you submit the request to unsubscribe.
You should note that BeEncrypted.com can manage only its mailing list and policies. If you want to unsubscribe from our business partners’ communications, you should contact them directly, as we do not control their mailing lists. Third-party advertisers may also promote our services on their websites, and you may have permitted them to send communications to you directly. If so, you must contact the concerned third party to inform them to discontinue the communications.
Although BeEncrypted.com only approves permission-based e-mails, it does not restrict third parties from promoting BeEncrypted.com outside the provisions of the applicable law.
Third-Party Links
This Privacy Policy applies to the data and information that BeEncrypted.com collects. Note that when you click a link from the BeEncrypted.com website, and it takes you to another site (for example, one of our VPN affiliates), you’ll be operating with a third party with its own privacy and security policies and terms of use.
If you request a specific service on a third-party website, the data you provide will be governed by the third party’s privacy policy. Usually, a third-party site will have its policy on using cookies and clear gifs. We recommend that you review any other service provider’s privacy policies and terms of use before you obtain services.
Updating Your Information
To access or update the personal information you previously submitted to BeEncryted.com, all you have to do is email us at aq@beencrypted.com.
Minors
The age requirement to use BeEncrypted.com is 18 years. In rare cases where we collect or use visitors’ personal information under 18 years, it happens unknowingly. If you are below 18, you may only use the services we provide on our website if you visit our website with the permission and supervision of a parent or guardian.
Retention
Unless there’s a new provision, BeEncrypted.com keeps consumers’ personal information only as long as it takes to fulfill the purposes mentioned above or as the law provides. Below are the criteria we use to determine how long to retain consumers’ personal information:
- Our affiliation with you and the products and services we render to you
- Your demands to us concerning your information or our products and services
- Any legal requirement to retain data or for our websites’ legal purpose (enforcing litigation)
- Technical circumstances and the established security level for your personal information.
Questions and Suggestions
Contact us at aq@beencrypted.com with any concerns, questions, or suggestions.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
BeEncrypted.com reserves the right to alter, modify, or update this privacy policy anytime. This Privacy Policy’s provisions displace all previous policies or notices concerning our privacy regulations. We implore customers to check our website regularly to find the updated Privacy Policy and understand how committed we are to ensuring maximum data protection and uploading security content to improve your online experience.
If there’s a substantial change to this policy statement, we shall include these changes to the Privacy Policy, the website homepage, and other noticeable pages so that you’re duly notified. The change would update you on what information we collect, how long we retain it, how we use it, and the circumstances that require us to disclose it, if any. You can find the date we last updated our privacy statement on the Privacy Policy webpage. We will construe your continued use of our site as an acceptance of the changes to our Privacy Policy.
Your California, Colorado, and Virginia Privacy Rights
If you reside in California, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) of 2018 and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) of 2020 offer you additional privacy rights. Virginia and Colorado’s residents also enjoy these rights pursuant to the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (VCDPA) and the Colorado Privacy Act (CPA). Below are details on these privacy rights:
Right to Transparency
According to Sec. 1798.100, California Civil Code, businesses or organizations that collect personal information of people living in California are obligated to notify the consumer on:
- The nature and categories of personal information they’ll collect, the purpose for which they’re collecting those categories of information, and whether the information would be sold or shared
- The categories of sensitive personal information they’ll collect, the purpose for which they’re collecting those categories of information, and whether the information would be sold or shared, and
- The duration the business intends to retain the categories of personal and sensitive personal information, and where it’s impossible to do so, the criteria to determine how long they’ll retain the information, among other things.
Following the provisions of VCDPA and CPA, businesses that get the personal information of residents in Virginia and Colorado are obligated to notify the consumers regarding the categories of personal information they’ll collect, the purpose for which they’re collecting those categories of information, and whether the information would be sold or shared. In addition, you should read this Privacy Policy to gather more information on how your personal information is collected and used.
Right to Correct Information
According to California Civil Code Sec. 1798.106, residents in California have the right to request that we correct any personal information and ensure that the accurate information is recorded. The VCDPA and CPA confer this right on Virginia and Colorado consumers. To request to correct your personal information, email us at aq@beencrypted.com with the subject title “Correct My Personal Information,” and we’ll act as quickly as possible.
Right to Request Access to Personal Information
According to the provisions of Secs. 1798.100, 1798.110, and 1798.115 of California Civil Code, the VCDPA, CPA, and other applicable federal and state laws, consumers may request to confirm if their personal information is being processed.
You can get a report of your personal information collected, the category of the source from which your personal information was collected, the purpose of the collection, and the third parties to whom they were sold or shared. You may choose to get your report electronically or by postal mail.
Upon identity verification, you can successfully request this report only twice a year, and it must be provided within 45 days from the date you submitted the request. This verification is essential to ensure that the wrong parties don’t have access to your personal information. The request submission fails if you don’t complete the authentication process and can not get the personal information report.
To request your report, call the toll-free number or fill out the electronic form after clicking the link below:
844-280-2929
Right to Refuse the Sale or Sharing of Your Data
As a California resident, you can opt out of selling or sharing your personal information. If you would like to opt-out, then please complete the form after clicking the “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” link below:
Personal Information Deletion or Removal
If you’re a California resident, Sec. 1798.105 of the California Civil Code gives you the right to demand that we delete your personal information from our systems. In addition, the VCDPA and CPA confer this right on residents in Virginia and Colorado, respectively. Email us at aq@beencrypted.com with the subject “Personal Information Deletion or Removal,” and we’ll act as quickly as possible. We must process all information removal requests within 45 days of receipt.
Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information Request
Residents in Virginia and Colorado may also have the right to object to processing their personal information for targeted advertising. They can also object to the sale of personal information or profiling in support of decisions that have legal or similarly significant consequences for a consumer. If you want to opt- out of having your data processed for those purposes, Email us at aq@beencrypted.com with the subject title “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information Request,” and we’ll act as quickly as possible.
Consent to Use My Sensitive Information for Residents of Virginia and Colorado
Residents in Virginia and Colorado enjoy legal protection prohibiting businesses from collecting their sensitive personal information without consent.
According to VCDPA and CPA, businesses cannot collect consumers’ personal information, including ethnicity, race, origin, religion, sexual orientation, physical or mental health condition or diagnosis, or citizenship or immigration status, the processing of biometric or genetic data to identify a person; personal data from a known child; and exact geolocation information (only VCDPA).
To consent, email us at aq@beencrypted.com with the subject title “Consent to Use My Sensitive Information for Residents of Virginia and Colorado,” and we’ll get your records updated as quickly as possible.
Right to Limit Use and Disclosures of Sensitive Personal Information
Consumers have the right to demand limited use and disclosure of their sensitive personal information. If you want to limit the use or disclosure of this information, email us at aq@beencrypted.com with the subject title “Right to Limit Use and Disclosures of Sensitive Personal Information,” and we’ll obey your request as quickly as possible.
Right to Appeal
Suppose you’re a resident of Virginia or Colorado, and BeEncrypted denies you the exercise of your rights mentioned above. In that case, you can appeal such denial by following the same method highlighted above to appeal the decision.
Right to not be Discriminated Against
Under the VCDPA, CPA, and Sec. 1798.125 of California Civil Code, BeEncrypted.com should not deny any consumer any good or service, charge a different price, offer a different quality level of goods or services, or suggest that you may get a different price because you’re exercising your rights provided for in VCDPA, CPRA, CCPA, or CPA.
California’s Shine the Light
Any company that collects personal information from California residents and reveals it to a third party (including affiliated entities) for marketing must, in responding to a consumer’s request, either (1) provide a list of the types of information shared and the agencies to which such information was provided, or (2) provide a method for consumers to opt-out of having their details shared with third parties.
Following the second option, consumers may request that their personal information not be shared with third parties by sending their request, including full name, e-mail address, and postal address, to aq@beencrypted.com.
According to California Civil Code Sec. 1798.83, California resident consumers can file complaints and grievances with the California Department of Consumer Affairs, 400 R Street, Suite 1080, Sacramento, CA 95814. You can also call 800-952-5210 or 916-445-1254 or send an email to dca@dca.ca.gov.
PLEASE PRINT THIS PRIVACY POLICY AND KEEP A COPY FOR FUTURE REFERENCE.
LAST UPDATED: March 24, 2023.
