Privacy Policy

The US-CERT privacy policy governs this Web site and our activities - and yours - when you visit this site. We do not collect personal information such as names or addresses when you visit the site. However, if you choose to join a working group by submitting your email address, we will retain and use your email address solely for your involvement in the working group and for no other purpose, except as provided in this agreement (see Site Security, below) or explicitly agreed to by you. Likewise, any other personal information that you supply to join a working group will be used only for that purpose.

We do collect some technical information when you visit to make your visit seamless. The section below explains how we handle and collect technical information when you visit our Web site.

Information Collected and Stored Automatically

When you browse, read pages, or download information on this web site, we automatically gather and store certain technical information about your visit. This information never identifies who you are. The information we collect and store about your visit is listed below:

the Internet domain (for example, "xcompany.com" if you use a private Internet access account, or "yourschool.edu" if you connect from a university's domain) and IP address (an IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you are surfing the Web) from which you access our Web site
the type of browser (e.g., Netscape, Internet Explorer) and operating system (Windows, Unix) used to access our site
the date and time you access our site
the pages you visit
if you linked to this Web site from another Web site, the address of that Web site

This information is only used to help us make the site more useful for you. With this data we learn about the number of visitors to our site and the types of technology and information our visitors use. We never track or record information about individuals and their visits.

If You Send Us Personal Information

If you choose to provide us with personal information for any purpose, we use that information only for that purpose. We share the information you give us with another government agency only if your inquiry relates to that agency, or as otherwise required by law. We do not create individual profiles or give your information to private sector organizations for marketing or other purposes. We do not collect information for commercial marketing.

Site Security

For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, this government computer system employs commercial software programs to monitor network traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or otherwise cause damage.

Except for authorized law enforcement investigations, no other attempts are made to identify individual users or their usage habits.

Unauthorized attempts to upload information or change information on this service are strictly prohibited and may be punishable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986 and the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act.