TechVets Privacy Notice

TechVets Privacy Notice

TechVets Privacy Notice 

It is important that you read this notice, together with any other privacy notice that is provided on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing personal information about you, so that you are aware of how and why we are using such information.


1. Who We Are

TechVets gather and process your personal information in accordance with this privacy notice and in compliance with the relevant Data Protection Regulation and Laws. This notice provides you with the necessary information regarding your rights and our obligations, and explains how, why and when we process your personal data.

We are registered as Technology Veterans Foundation, Mountbarrow House, 12 Elizabeth Street, London SW1W 9RB - our business name is TechVets. TechVets is a not-for-profit registered in England and Wales as a Company Limited by Guarantee No.11919119. We are registered on the Information Commissioner’s Office Register; registration number (ZA778536), and act as the data controller and data processor when processing your data.

TechVets are a RFEA - The Forces Employment Charity Programme and have a dedicated Data Protection Controller who can be contacted at RFEA Head Office, First Floor, Mountbarrow House, 12 Elizabeth Street, London SW1W 9RB; email [email protected].


2. Data Protection Principles

We will comply with the data protection principles under the data protection legislation. This says that the personal information we hold about you must be:

  • used lawfully, fairly and in a transparent way
  • collected only for valid purposes that we have clearly explained to you and not used in any way that is incompatible with those purposes
  • relevant to the purposes we have told you about and limited only to those purposes
  • accurate and kept up to date
  • kept only as long as necessary for the purposes we have told you about
  • kept securely

3. Information That We Collect

TechVets processes your personal information to meet our legal, statutory and contractual obligations and to provide you with our services. We will never collect any unnecessary personal data from you and do not process your information in any way, other than as specified in this notice.

The personal data that we collect from you may include:

  • Full Name
  • Title and Rank
  • Service
  • Date of Birth
  • Service Number
  • Enlistment Date
  • Discharge Date
  • Campaigns Served
  • Employment History
  • Home Address
  • Personal Email
  • Business Email
  • Evidence of your right to work in the UK/immigration status
  • Home Telephone Number
  • Mobile Telephone Number

We collect information in the below ways:

  • Website Registrations
  • Telephone Disclosures
  • Employment CVs
  • Course/Training/Prize Giveaway Applications
  • Group Events
  • Web Chat and Webinars

4. How We Use Your Personal Data (Our Legal Basis for Processing)

TechVets takes your privacy very seriously and will never disclose or share your data outside our Partners listed in this notice without your consent; unless required to do so by law. We only retain your data for as long as is necessary and for the purposes specified in this notice. Where you have consented to us providing you with marketing, you are free to withdraw this consent at any time. The purposes and reasons for processing your personal data are detailed below:

  • We collect your personal data in the performance to provide a training and/or employment service to you as a member/beneficiary.
  • We collect and store your personal data as part of our legal obligation for business purposes.
  • We will occasionally send you marketing information where we have assessed that it is beneficial to you as a member/beneficiary and in our interests. Such information will be non-intrusive and is processed on the grounds of legitimate interests.

5. Your Rights

The law requires us to tell you about your rights and our obligations to you in regard to the processing and control of your personal data. We do this now by requesting you read the information provided at www.knowyourprivacyrights.org.

You have the right to access any personal information that TechVets processes about you and to request information about:

  • What personal data we hold about you
  • The purposes of the processing
  • The categories of personal data concerned
  • The recipients to whom the personal data has/will be disclosed
  • How long we intend to store your personal data for
  • If we did not collect the data directly from you, information about the source/provider

If you believe that we hold any incomplete or inaccurate data about you, you have the right to ask us to correct and/or complete the information and we will strive to do so as quickly as possible; unless there is a valid reason for not doing so, at which point you will be notified.

You also have the right to request erasure of your personal data or to restrict processing (where applicable) in accordance with the data protection laws; as well as to object to any direct marketing from us. Where applicable, you have the right to data portability of your information and the right to be informed about any automated decision-making we may use (currently TechVets does not use any automated decision-making processes).

If we receive a request from you to exercise any of the above rights, we will ask you to verify your identity before acting on the request; this is to ensure that your data is protected and kept secure.


6. Sharing and Disclosing Your Personal Information

We do not share or disclose any of your personal information without your consent, other than for the purposes specified in this notice or where there is a legal requirement.

TechVets uses third parties (partners) to provide and enhance our services and business functions; however, all processors acting on our behalf only process your data in accordance with instructions from us and comply fully with this privacy notice, the data protection laws and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.

We only share your data with recognised partners that are approved to TechVets. Our partners may include those listed below, but there is a wider support network that we may work with to support individual cases. We will keep you informed of partners linked within your specific programme:

TechVets Partners
TechVets are a programme within RFEA - The Forces Employment Charity. RFEA are a Military Service charity providing multiple programmes in support of veterans and service persons in pursuit of employment. How RFEA use personal data can be seen here: https://www.rfea.org.uk/privacy/

TechVets Training and Services Partners
Many of TechVets training services are provided by TechVets partners and accessed externally to TechVets platforms. When you access these services through your TechVets membership, it is important to understand that TechVets do not control these third-party websites and/or services and are not responsible for their privacy statements. TechVets provides free access to third party training and services. When you leave our website to access any third-party service that you have access to through your TechVets membership, there is a possibility their data will be processed and stored outside of the UK. We encourage you to read the privacy notice of every website you visit:

Veteran Digital Cyber Academy (Immersive Labs
https://www.immersivelabs.com/privacy-policy

Discord
https://discord.com/new/privacy

Fortinet Network Security Academy (Fortinet)
https://www.fortinet.com/corporate/about-us/privacy

SplunkWork+ (Splunk)
https://www.splunk.com/en_us/legal/privacy/privacy-policy.html

Cybrary
https://www.cybrary.it/privacy-policy/

HackTheBox
https://www.hackthebox.eu/privacypolicy

TryHackMe
https://tryhackme.com/terms

CREST
https://www.crest-approved.org/privacy-policy/index.html

Cisco Networking Academy
https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/about/legal/privacy.html

Pega Academy
https://www.pega.com/privacy-and-security

SANS Institute
https://www.sans.org/privacy/?msc=footer-bottom-nav 

Samurai Security
https://samuraisecurity.co.uk/privacy-policy/

arcX
https://arcx.io/privacy/ 

Nomios
https://www.nomios.co.uk/privacy-statement/

Netcompany
https://www.netcompany.com/en-GB/Privacy-Policy

Siker Cyber Security
https://sikercyber.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/HS-and-TC-Website-Privacy.pdf

Project Ares
https://projectares.academy/privacy

Goldphish
https://www.goldphish.com/privacy-policy

SASIG
https://www.thesasig.com/privacy-policy/

Google (Grow with Google)
https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en

Coursera (Part of the Grow with Google initiative)
https://www.coursera.org/about/privacy

Project Ares
https://projectares.academy/privacy 


7. Safeguarding Measures

TechVets takes your privacy seriously and takes every reasonable measure and precaution to protect and secure your personal data. We work hard to protect you and your information from unauthorised access, alteration, disclosure or destruction and have several layers of security measures in place, including:

  • Restricted Access
  • IT Authentication
  • Data Encryption
  • Virtual Private Networks (VPN)
  • Firewalls
  • Controlled Anti-virus/malware
  • Pseudonymisaton
  • Security Cleared Employees

8. How We Store Personal Data

Your personal data will be stored in a secure Information Technology system. We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal information from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorised way, altered or disclosed.

  • In addition, we limit access to your personal information to only TechVet and RFEA personnel, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal information on our instructions. Details of these measures are available upon request from our Data Protection Controller.
  • Third parties will only process your personal information on our instructions and where they have agreed to treat the information confidentially and to keep it secure, in a contractual arrangement.
  • We have put in place procedures to deal with any suspected data security breach and will notify you and the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) of a suspected breach where we are legally required to do so.

Contracted Supplier
RFEA contract a small number of suppliers to assist in ensuring your personal data is stored securely. All contractors meet GDPR, Data Protection Act 2018 and IS0 27001 requirements.

  • 123formbuilder – Is used for our registration form and to upload proof of service. Once the form has been completed it connects to RFEA via a Data Centre in Frankfurt. This complies with current GDPR requirements - https://www.123formbuilder.com/secure-forms.html
  • Spanning - Prioritises the privacy and security of all personal data held by RFEA ensuring that it is backed up via a secure Data Centre in Dublin - https://spanning.com/gdpr/
  • F-Secure – With the introduction of direct uploading of Proof of Service RFEA have investing in Virus and Malware protection to add an additional layer of security to protect your Personal Information. F-Secure scans all documents via a Data Centre in Dublin - https://www.f-secure.com/gb-en/about-us/trust
  • Dotdigital – Is used as part of RFEA marketing and feedback gathering. When selecting to opt into our newsletter your data is stored on dotdigital. Dotdigital has extensive expertise in protecting data, championing privacy, and complying with complex regulations. https://dotdigital.com/trust-center/gdpr/

9. Consequences of Not Providing Your Data

You are not obligated to provide your personal information to TechVets, however, as this information is required for us to provide you with our services, we will not be able to offer any of our services without it.


10. How Long We Keep Your Data

TechVets only ever retains personal information for as long as is necessary and we have strict review and retention policies in place to meet these obligations. We are required under UK tax law to keep your basic personal data (name, address, contact details) for a minimum of 6 years.

Where you have consented to us using your details for direct marketing, we will keep such data until you notify us otherwise and/or withdraw your consent.


11. Special Categories Data

TechVets do not collect any Special Categories of Personal Data about you (this includes details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data). Nor do we collect any information about criminal convictions and offences.


12. Lodging a Complaint

TechVets only processes your personal information in compliance with this privacy notice and in accordance with the relevant data protection laws. If, however, you wish to raise a complaint regarding the processing of your personal data or are unsatisfied with how we have handled your information, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority.

TechVets
Data Protection Controller
First Floor, Mountbarrow House,
12 Elizabeth Street, London SW1W 9RB

[email protected]

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House, Water Lane
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 (National Rate)
Fax: 01625 524 510


13. Cookie Notice

A ‘cookie’ is a small piece of data sent from a website and stored on the user’s computer by the user’s web browser while the user is browsing. When you visit a site that uses cookies for the first time, a cookie is downloaded onto your computer/mobile device so that the next time you visit that site, your device will remember useful information such as visited pages or logging in options.

Cookies are widely used in order to make websites work, or to work more efficiently, and our site relies on cookies to optimise user experience and for features and services to function properly.

Most web browsers allow some control to restrict or block cookies through the browser settings, however if you disable cookies you may find this affects your ability to use certain parts of our website or services.

For more information about cookies visit https://www.aboutcookies.org.


14. Review of this Privacy Notice

We may update this privacy notice from time to time as necessary. The terms that apply to you are those posted here on our website on the day you use our website. We advise you to make a digital copy for your records.

If you have any questions regarding our privacy notice, please contact us [email protected]

Last updated: March 2022