Understand personal data protection in Smartcat

Overview

Smartcat takes the storage and protection of your personal data seriously. This article explains what the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) means for you as a Smartcat user, including how your data is stored, managed, protected, and shared.

What is GDPR?

On May 25, 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force. The law establishes general rules regarding data protection in the European Union for international companies that process the personal data of EU citizens. Its main goal is to give you the ability to learn what data a company stores about you and, if you want, to manage it.

GDPR and Smartcat

Smartcat is serious about storing and protecting the personal data of its customers. This has always been the case, and it did not change after the new law came into force.

User data

Storage

Smartcat has updated its Terms of Use and published the Privacy Policy. The Terms of Use describe in more detail, and with improved clarity, what user data Smartcat stores, for what purposes, and how it guarantees security.

Management

You can control the visibility of your profile to search engines and within the Smartcat Marketplace. If you decide to stop using Smartcat, Smartcat will delete your account and all associated information, including files and projects, at your request. You can delete the personal data you have added to your freelancer profile or corporate profile, such as your name, photo, and phone number, by yourself at any time.

Protection

Smartcat employees who have access to your data are thoroughly checked by the security team and can use your data only as part of their work. Access is also limited by authorization procedures and infrastructure, which prevent employees with insufficient rights from accessing information.

📌 Your data is stored in data centers with the strongest, strictest security level, Tier IV. This is a much higher level of protection than conventional office servers provide.

For more detail, see Smartcat security measures.

Privacy

Smartcat does not share any user information with third parties. Your data is stored on one of three servers located in Europe, the US, or Asia, and does not go outside of them. When you sign up with Smartcat, your information goes to one of the three servers, depending on the region in which you are located.

Smartcat's partners

In the terminology of the GDPR, Smartcat is a "data controller", because it collects and uses information about its users. Smartcat carefully selects partners to help process payment orders and enters into agreements with them that detail points concerning the safety of user data.

📌 Smartcat does not store your bank card details. They are stored on the payment partner's side, which has all the necessary infrastructure to ensure the safe storage of this type of information, confirmed by a PCI DSS certificate.

Any new solutions Smartcat designs take into account the requirements for data security. Smartcat also looks for the latest solutions in the field of data protection and applies them to its processes, infrastructure, and partner selection.