Privacy

This document describes how we handle data and information collected from you whilst visiting our website and making use of our services.

1. Introduction
sparrowhawk.cloud trading as Sparrowhawk IT Services (Pty) Ltd. is committed to safeguarding data security and integrity in providing our services and conducting our business. We ensure that personal information is processed and protected lawfully in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) of South Africa. This privacy policy, and the interpretation and enforcement thereof, will be governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa.


2. Security of Your Information
When storing personally identifiable information and payment information in our database, we encrypt sensitive data such as passwords. Our databases and backups are stored on encrypted servers and transported using secure protocols. Access to your data is strictly controlled and restricted to authorized personnel using encrypted communication methods.

In the event of a data breach resulting in the unlawful disclosure of your personal information, we will inform you promptly and provide necessary steps to protect your personal data. We adhere to the legal requirements applicable to such notifications.

We will not provide any personally identifiable information about you to any other person except in the following circumstances:

  • when required to do so by law
  • to a person or company who acquires our business
  • third parties who perform services on our behalf that you request (such as payment processing and domain registrars), subject to the third party complying with applicable data protection standards.

3. Collected Information via E-mail / Support Tickets:
When you send personally identifying information to us via e-mail or support ticket, this information is used to assist us in gathering the information you may request or require in completing the support request. Information you submit may be viewed by various people within sparrowhawk.cloud to provide you with the service, information or function you have requested. Once received, the information in your email is protected in accordance with law.


4. Clients Making Use of Our Services
In registering for and making use of our services you will have to provide us with personally identifiable information to enable us to provide you with our services requested. The information you provide will be entered into our database.

Your Personal Data may Include:

  • name and surname
  • email address
  • telephone number
  • company name, company registration number and VAT number
  • postal or street address
  • username and password


5. Information Collected and Stored Automatically:
We collect information about your visits to our website, including the IP address, browser type, operating system, and pages visited. This information is collected based on our legitimate interest in monitoring website traffic and improving our services. It is used to improve our site and its content presented to visitors by learning the number of visitors and the number of pages served. We do not track or record information about identifiable individuals and their visits.


6. Payment Gateways

sparrowhawk.cloud provides payment processing options via third-party gateways, including PayFast and PayPal. When you choose to make a payment through these gateways, your payment details are securely handled by the payment provider, and we do not store your banking or card information.

Both PayFast and PayPal comply with applicable international standards, including Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS), ensuring that your payment details are handled securely and in compliance with the relevant data protection regulations.



7. 3rd Party Links
sparrowhawk.cloud's website contains many links to sites that belong to third parties and are therefore unrelated to us. sparrowhawk.cloud will not accept liability for any personal information you disclose on third-party sites. sparrowhawk.cloud is unable to protect any information you may disclose on these sites, and therefore we recommend that you review the privacy policies of such sites before providing any personal information.


8. Cookie Policy
sparrowhawk.cloud uses cookies to enhance your browsing experience and maintain session data. You can disable cookies at the browser level; however, some features of our website may not function properly without them.

If you do not wish for cookies to be stored, you can reject cookies at the browser level. The process is slightly different for each browser. Please note that certain cookies are essential for the website to function, such as maintaining your session during a visit. If you disable these cookies, certain website functionalities may not work as intended.

sparrowhawk.cloud uses two types of cookies:

  • Session cookies - These expire when you close your browser. They do not remain on your computer.
  • Persistent cookies - These stay on your computer for a defined period of time.
sparrowhawk.cloud creates the following cookies when you use our website:

Instance: This is the most common cookie that most PHP-based websites will use. This stores the unique session ID for each visitor and enables variables to pass between page loads. The cookie only contains a reference to a session on the web server. The user's browser won't store any personal information. This is a session-only cookie, so it expires as soon as you close the browser.

Affiliate: sparrowhawk.cloud sets this cookie when an affiliate refers a customer via their affiliate link. It stores the ID of the affiliate that made the referral so that if the customer places an order within the next 90 days following the referral, the affiliate receives credit for it. It is a persistent cookie.

User:  sparrowhawk.cloud uses this cookie for the remember me functionality when logging into our site using your credentials. The system only sets this if a client has chosen to have the system remember their details, ensuring that they don't need to log in multiple times. It is persistent and lasts for 365 days, or until logout.


9. Google reCAPTCHA
sparrowhawk.cloud makes use of "Google reCAPTCHA" (hereinafter "reCAPTCHA") on our website. This service is provided by Google Inc. ("Google"). reCAPTCHA is used to check whether the data entered on our website (such as on a contact, order, login form) has been entered by a human or by an automated program. To do this, reCAPTCHA analyzes the behavior of the website visitor based on various characteristics. This analysis starts automatically as soon as the website visitor visits a page with a form. For the analysis, reCAPTCHA evaluates various information (e.g. IP address, if any mouse movements have been made by the user). The data collected during the analysis is forwarded to Google. reCAPTCHA analyses take place completely in the background. Website visitors are not advised that such an analysis is taking place. sparrowhawk.cloud has a legitimate interest in protecting its forms from abuse carried out by automated crawling and spam. For more information about Google reCAPTCHA and Google's privacy policy, please visit the following links: https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/ and https://www.google.com/recaptcha/about/.


10. Google Web Fonts
For uniform representation of fonts, sparrowhawk.cloud uses web fonts provided by Google. When you open a page, your browser loads the required web fonts into your browser cache to display texts and fonts correctly. For this purpose your browser has to establish a direct connection to Google servers. Google thus becomes aware that our web page was accessed via your IP address. The use of Google Web fonts is done in the interest of a uniform and attractive presentation of our website. This constitutes a justified interest in the implementation of Google Web Fonts. If your browser does not support web fonts, a standard font is used by your computer. Further information about handling user data can be found at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq and in Google's privacy policy at https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/.


11. Children's Privacy
Our services are not available to children under the age of 18, and we will therefore not intentionally maintain information about anyone under the age of 18.


12. Limitation
We are not responsible for, nor do we give any warranties or make any representations regarding, the privacy policies or practices of linked or third-party websites.


13. Unauthorised Disclosure
We cannot accept any liability whatsoever for unauthorised or unlawful disclosure of your personal data by third parties who are not subject to our control.


14. Amendment of Policy
sparrowhawk.cloud reserves the right to update and/or make changes to this Privacy Policy document. In the event of a substantial change, such as modifications to how personal data is collected, used, or shared, or changes to user rights under this policy, customers will be informed via email.


15. Your Rights

As a user, you have the right to:

  • Access your personal information.
  • Correct or update your personal information.
  • Delete your personal information.
  • Object to the processing of your personal information.
  • Lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator.

If you wish to exercise these rights, please contact us at legal@sparrowhawk.cloud.



16. Questions
Should you have any questions regarding our privacy policy, please contact us at legal@sparrowhawk.cloud.
Copyright © 2024 sparrowhawk.cloud. All Rights Reserved.