Haystack’s End User Privacy Policy

 Haystack’s End User Privacy Policy

Date of Last Revision: July 2, 2024

This Privacy Policy describes the collection and use by Haystack Solutions, Inc. (referred to collectively with any subsidiaries or other affiliated companies as “Haystack“) of personal information of test takers or other end users (collectively referred to as “End Users“) in connection with Haystack’s cyber aptitude testing and other services. These services may be offered by Haystack in conjunction with companies, schools or other organizations that have engaged with Haystack to provide Haystack’s services to the Client’s actual or potential employees, students or other constituents. If you receive access to Haystack’s services through one of these organizations, that organization is referred to in this Privacy Policy as the “Client”. Haystack’s services may also be offered by Haystack or its authorized distributors directly to End Users. If you purchased or otherwise receive access to the services in such manner, the references in these Terms of Use to the “Client” are not applicable to you. 

Certain of Haystack’s testing and other services are provided through access to one or more Haystack websites, which are referred to as “Sites“. The Haystack testing and other services and the Sites are referred to as “Haystack Services”.

Haystack is committed to protecting the personal information of End Users. Haystack will collect and use personal information in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy. As used in this Privacy Policy, the term “personal information” means any information or data that is personally identifiable to you. Information or data that is anonymized so that it is not identifiable to you is not personal information. 

By registering as an End User, by taking a test offered by Haystack or by otherwise using Haystack Services, you consent to Haystack’s receipt, use, storage and disclosure of your personal information as set forth in this Privacy Policy.

Overview

In order to register with Haystack and to use Haystack Services, you or the Client must provide certain personal information about you (such as your email address), and your use of Haystack Services will generate personal information (such as your test results). All such personal information will be stored by Haystack on its equipment or by its cloud vendor(s). Haystack will endeavor to use reasonable efforts and standard industry practices to keep personal information confidential and to protect it from unauthorized access, use or disclosure. 

Haystack may share personal information with the Client or other third parties as described in this Privacy Policy. Any personal information shared by you or Haystack with the Client or other third party will be governed by the Client’s or third party’s privacy policies. Haystack has no authority or responsibility with respect to the Client’s or any third party’s privacy policy or compliance with personal information protection laws and regulations.

By registering with Haystack as an End User, by taking a test offered by Haystack or by otherwise using Haystack Services, you consent to the Client disclosing your personal information to Haystack.

Your Account Information 

In order to create an End User account and to use Haystack Services, you or the Client will need to provide, or may have the opportunity to voluntarily provide, personal information such as your name, street address, phone number, email address, name of the Client with which you are associated, username, password and employment or academic information. The nature and amount of personal information you or the Client are required to provide or asked to voluntarily provide may depend upon factors such as the particular Haystack Service for which you are registering. 

Your account information will generally include the following: 

Contact Information. Your contact information is used to allow Haystack to contact you relating to Haystack Services or for the purpose of requesting any consent from you, such as requesting your consent for Haystack to disclose your personal information to third parties. Your contact information may also be used by Haystack to gather feedback through surveys to enable Haystack to improve or develop its services or to provide you or the Client with promotional, informational or other materials relating to products or services offered by Haystack or third parties.

Account Information. Your account information is used to identify you in Haystack’s system as a registered user and to allow you to use the Sites and Haystack Services.

Usage Information. Your usage information is used by Haystack for its internal business purposes in connection with Haystack Services, such as evaluating system performance or improving Haystack Services.

Test Results. Your test results are used by Haystack to provide the Haystack Services purchased by the Client and will be shared with the Client for this purpose. Your test results may also be used by Haystack to determine the consent(s) that Haystack may request from you regarding the sharing of your personal information and to determine the promotional, informational or other materials relating to products or services offered by Haystack or third parties that Haystack may wish to share with you or the Client.

Other Personal Information. Your other personal information provided by you or the Client or otherwise collected or stored by Haystack is used by Haystack to provide its services, to determine the consent(s) that Haystack may request from you regarding the sharing of your personal information, and to determine the promotional, informational or other materials relating to products or services offered by Haystack or third parties that Haystack may wish to share with you or the Client. 

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Privacy Policy, Haystack may aggregate or otherwise use, and may sell or otherwise disclose, in any manner, anonymized data or other data that does not constitute personal information for any purpose, including external purposes (for example, reporting total monthly test takers to current or prospective clients) and internal purposes (for example, maintenance of Haystack software used in connection with the provision of its services).

Disclosure of your Personal Information by Haystack

Haystack will not disclose or sell your personal information to third parties except as follows:

• • to the Client in connection with Haystack’s provision of services to the Client;
  • if reasonably necessary in connection with third party services provided to Haystack to enable Haystack to operate its business (for example, certain personal information may be accessible by a company servicing Haystack’s computer systems or hosting or administering the Sites); in these cases, Haystack attempts to ensure, including through the use of confidentiality agreements or the third party’s policies, that the third parties will not use, disclose or store any personal information except to provide its services to Haystack or as otherwise reasonably required, such as disclosures required by law;
  • if Haystack believes in good faith that such disclosure is reasonably necessary: (i) to comply with any law, rule or regulation, (ii) in connection with a judicial or criminal proceeding or investigation, court order or other legal process, (iii) in connection with internal or external proceedings or investigations for an alleged violation of any agreement, policy or code of conduct of Haystack, the Client or a third party relating to Haystack Services, (iv) to enforce any terms of use that govern your use of Haystack Services or the Sites (referred to collectively as the “Terms of Use”) or any agreement between Haystack and the Client or (v) to protect the rights, property or personal safety of other End Users, the Client, Haystack or others;
  • if permitted by the Terms of Use;
  • if permitted elsewhere in this Privacy Policy;
  • if Haystack sells all or any portion of its business or assets or is otherwise acquired by or merges with another entity, in which event your personal information may be transferred or disclosed to the acquiring or successor company; or 
  • if you give Haystack permission to disclose your personal information. For example, Haystack may request your consent to disclose your personal information to third parties in connection with products or services provided by the third party that may be relevant to you.

Haystack is not responsible for the actions or inactions of any third party receiving personal information as permitted herein, including without limitation the disclosure or use of your personal information by such third party.

Links

You may see links on the Sites to other websites. Haystack is not responsible for the privacy practices of such other websites. If you provide information through a website that is not operated by Haystack, different privacy policies may cover that party’s use of your information. Please review any third party’s privacy policy before disclosing your personal information to that party.

Cookies and Log Files

The Sites may use cookies and web log files, including IP addresses, to track End User usage or to help diagnose problems with or to administer Haystack Services. Cookies may automatically collect certain types of usage information when you visit the Sites, read Haystack emails, or otherwise engage with Haystack. Haystack may use cookies to collect information about the way you use the Sites, such as the links you click, how frequently you access the Sites, whether you open emails or click the links contained in emails and other actions you take on the Sites. Cookies may also be used to collect identifying information associated with the device you use to access the Sites, the location of such device and the telecommunications carrier(s) enabling your access. Haystack may collect analytics data or use third-party analytics tools to measure traffic and usage data for the Sites and to learn about the demographics of users. 

Haystack may share, or permit third party online advertising networks, social media networks or other third party service providers, to collect information about your use of the Sites so that they may play or display ads that may be relevant to your interests on our Sites as well as on other websites or apps, or on other devices you may use.

If you would prefer not to accept cookies, most browsers will allow you to change your browser settings to notify you when you receive a cookie, which lets you choose whether or not to accept the cookie, to disable existing cookies, or to set your browser to automatically reject cookies. 

Please note that doing so may negatively impact your experience using the Sites, as some features and services on the Sites may not work properly or be tailored to you. Depending on your device and operating system, you may not be able to delete or block all cookies. 

Children Prohibited from Sites

Haystack does not knowingly provide access to the Sites to persons under the age of 18 without parental consent. If Haystack learns that an End User is under the age of 18 and does not have parental consent, appropriate steps may be taken to remove the End User’s personal information from the database and restrict the individual from future access to the Sites. In addition, any registration by, use of or access to the Sites by anyone under 13 is unauthorized, unlicensed and in violation of the Terms of Use.

International

Haystack is located in the United States. Personal information stored by Haystack on its own systems will be stored in the United States, and personal information stored by Haystack using its cloud vendors will be stored in the storage locations used by such vendors. Personal information may be transferred from time to time to Haystack personnel or offices outside of the United States. The Sites may be viewed and hosted, and End Users, a Client or third parties that receive your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy may be located, outside of the United States. Laws regarding the protection of personal information vary between jurisdictions and are rapidly evolving. Some jurisdictions in which personal information is stored may have or may enact laws that are different or less protective than the laws of your jurisdiction. Haystack endeavors to ensure that it complies with these laws that are applicable to it. Irrespective of where you reside, are located or are a citizen, you consent to the storage and transborder transfer and hosting of your personal information as set forth in this Privacy Policy.

Security

Haystack has implemented security measures to protect End User personal information from loss, misuse and alteration. Haystack uses practices that it believes are industry-standard, such as encrypted storage, firewalls and password protection systems, to safeguard the confidentiality of your personal information. Passwords are encrypted and hidden from system administrators, and other types of personal information may be encrypted using standard industry practices. Only authorized Haystack personnel are permitted to access personal information, and these personnel are required to treat this personal information as confidential. Despite these precautions, it is not possible to guarantee the security of personal information, including personal information stored on a computer or transmitted over the internet, a computer network, or by wireless carrier. Accordingly, Haystack cannot guarantee that unauthorized persons will not obtain access to personal information.

Ownership

As between you and Haystack, Haystack owns any anonymized data relating to Haystack Services, any messages, suggestions or other content that you publish, display, or otherwise transmit directly or indirectly on the Sites or otherwise to Haystack, and any data generated from your use of the Sites or Haystack Services, in each case in whatever form. 

Control Over Your Personal Information

You may delete the personal information stored by Haystack by contacting Haystack. Deletion of your information will generally occur within 30 days. Any request for deletion of your personal information or cancellation of your account, or questions regarding this Privacy Policy, should be sent to [email protected]

Changes to this Privacy Policy

Haystack may update this Privacy Policy at any time. The latest version of the Privacy Policy will be available here or such other location or in such other manner as Haystack may specify from time to time, and the most recent revision date will be indicated at the top of this page. Please check this page regularly and when accessing a Site to make sure you are aware of any updates. Your continued use of a Site or Haystack Services following any update to this Privacy Policy constitutes your acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy. If you do not wish to accept the updated Privacy Policy, you must immediately discontinue use of the Sites and Haystack Services and contact Haystack at the email address above to cancel your access to the Site.