Privacy Policy

CyberAware is a cybersecurity awareness education platform developed initially as a Walsh University Honors Thesis Project by Meklit Tofu. Based on the response, it has since grown into a website accessible to any user. This Privacy Policy explains what information is collected, why it is collected, how long it is kept, and the choices and rights you have. We are committed to transparency and to collecting only what we need to provide the service.

Information We Collect

Account Information

If you create an account, we collect:

• Email address: used to create and identify your account, log you in, and send password-reset and account-related messages.
• Password: stored only as a salted one-way bcrypt hash. We never store or have access to your plaintext password.
• Referral source: how you heard about us (either from a campaign link or a self-reported dropdown), used to understand which outreach efforts are effective.

Quiz & Assessment Data

When you take the pre-content quiz or the post-content assessment, we collect:

• Demographic information: age range, education level, employment status, and residential area type.
• Quiz answers and scores: your responses and the risk scores calculated for each category (password practices, social engineering, AI safety, privacy, and cybervictimization awareness).
• Progress data: which educational content you have viewed and your before/after assessment results, used to measure learning progress.

If you are logged in, this data is linked to your account so you can review your history over time. If you are not logged in, it is tied only to a temporary, randomly generated session identifier.

Basic Usage Analytics

We collect aggregate, non-advertising usage information such as content views and assessment completion in order to understand engagement and improve the educational material. We do not build advertising profiles.

What We Do Not Collect

• Payment or financial data. CyberAware is free and does not process payments; we store no card, banking, or billing information.
• Government identifiers (SSN, driver's license, etc.).
• Precise geolocation data.
• Data about your activity on other websites.

Why We Collect It

• To provide the service: create your account, authenticate logins, and deliver personalized education based on your quiz results.
• To track learning progress: show your score history and measure improvement between the pre- and post-content assessments.
• To communicate with you: send password resets and essential account notices.
• To improve CyberAware: analyze aggregate engagement to refine the assessment and educational content.

We do not use your information for automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

Data Retention

We retain personal data for a default period of 24 months from your last activity (for example, your most recent login or quiz attempt), after which it is eligible for deletion. You can request earlier deletion at any time, and deleting your account removes your account and associated quiz, content-view, and assessment records. Fully de-identified or aggregated statistics that can no longer be tied to you may be kept for research and reporting.

We Do Not Sell Your Data

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information, and we do not share it with third parties for their own advertising or marketing. We share data only with service providers who help us operate the platform (see below), or where required by law.

Cookies

We use a small number of cookies, all functional (not advertising):

• Session cookie: maintains your session and remembers your quiz results as you navigate the site.
• "Remember me" cookie: set only if you choose that option at login, to keep you signed in across visits.
• Security (CSRF) token: protects forms against cross-site request forgery.

We do not use advertising cookies or third-party tracking/analytics cookies. You can clear or block cookies in your browser, though doing so may affect login and quiz functionality.

Service Providers & Third-Party Content

We rely on a limited set of third parties to run the service:

• Email delivery: a third-party email provider sends transactional messages such as password-reset links.
• Embedded content: educational pages include embedded YouTube videos and links to external resources. These services have their own privacy policies — for example, the YouTube/Google Privacy Policy.

When you interact with embedded or linked content, those third parties may collect data under their own policies, which we encourage you to review.

Your Rights & Choices

You can exercise the following rights over your personal data:

• Access: request a copy of the personal data associated with your account.
• Export: request your quiz history and account data in a portable, machine-readable format.
• Deletion: delete your account and associated data at any time from your account settings, or by contacting us.
• Correction: ask us to correct inaccurate account information.
• Opt out: choose not to create an account or take the quiz.

To make a request, use your account settings or contact us using the details below. We will respond within a reasonable timeframe.

Data Security

• Passwords are stored only as salted bcrypt hashes.
• Forms are protected against cross-site request forgery (CSRF).
• Access to the underlying database is restricted and not publicly available.

No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Children's Privacy

CyberAware is intended for adults (ages 18 and older). We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has provided us information, please contact us and we will delete it.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. Material changes will be posted on this page with an updated "Last updated" date. Your continued use of the platform after changes take effect constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

Contact Us

Questions about this policy or your data? Contact:

See also our Terms of Service.