Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

Vectarium Technologies ("we", "us", or "our") is committed to protecting the privacy and personal information of our clients and website visitors. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use, process, store, and protect your personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA) and other applicable South African data protection legislation.

This Privacy Policy applies to all personal information collected through our website at vectariumtechnologies.com, our client dashboard, and any other services we provide. By using our Services, you consent to the collection and processing of your personal information as described in this Policy.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Information You Provide Directly

When you register for an account or use our Services, we collect the following categories of personal information:

• Identity Information: Full name, company name
• Contact Information: Email address, phone number
• Account Credentials: Encrypted password (we do not store plain-text passwords)
• Billing Information: Payment history, invoice records (payment card details are processed by PayFast and are not stored by Vectarium Technologies)
• Technical Information: Server IP addresses, domain names, and infrastructure details provided for service provisioning

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

When you access our Platform, we may automatically collect the following technical information:

• IP address and approximate geographic location
• Browser type and version
• Device type and operating system
• Pages visited, features used, and time spent on the Platform
• Login timestamps and session activity

2.3 Information from Third-Party Services

Where you integrate third-party services such as Twilio with our managed infrastructure, we may receive limited technical information from those services solely for the purpose of monitoring and maintaining your service health.

3. How We Use Your Information

Vectarium Technologies uses your personal information for the following purposes:

• Service Provision: To create and manage your account, provision managed IT services, and maintain your infrastructure.
• Billing and Payments: To process Subscription payments, generate invoices, and manage payment records.
• Communication: To send service notifications, invoice confirmations, maintenance alerts, and support responses.
• Security: To detect, prevent, and respond to fraudulent activity, unauthorised access, and security incidents.
• Service Improvement: To analyse usage patterns and improve the functionality and performance of our Platform and Services.
• Legal Compliance: To comply with applicable South African laws, regulations, and court orders.
• Account Management: To manage account activation, suspension, and termination in accordance with our Terms of Service.

We will not use your personal information for any purpose incompatible with the purposes described above without your prior consent.

4. Legal Basis for Processing

We process your personal information on the following legal grounds as provided under POPIA:

• Contractual Necessity: Processing required to fulfil our obligations under the Service Agreement with you.
• Consent: Where you have provided explicit consent to specific processing activities, including the receipt of marketing communications.
• Legitimate Interest: Where processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests, provided such interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms.
• Legal Obligation: Where processing is required to comply with applicable South African law.

5. Data Sharing and Third Parties

5.1 Third-Party Service Providers

Vectarium Technologies may share your personal information with carefully selected third-party service providers who assist us in delivering the Services. These include:

• Cloudflare: For DNS management, CDN services, and DDoS protection
• PayFast: For secure payment processing
• SendGrid: For transactional email delivery
• Twilio: For WhatsApp Business communication services

All third-party service providers are bound by confidentiality obligations and are prohibited from using your personal information for any purpose other than providing the agreed services to Vectarium Technologies.

5.2 No Sale of Personal Information

5.3 Legal Disclosure

We may disclose your personal information where required by law, court order, or regulatory authority, or where we reasonably believe that disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of Vectarium Technologies, our clients, or the public.

6. Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as is necessary to fulfil the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy and to comply with our legal obligations. Specifically:

• Active account data: Retained for the duration of your Subscription and for a period of 30 days following account termination.
• Billing and payment records: Retained for a minimum of 5 years in accordance with South African tax and financial record-keeping requirements.
• Activity and security logs: Retained for a period of 12 months.
• Backup data: Retained in accordance with the backup retention schedule applicable to your Subscription plan.

Upon expiry of the applicable retention period, your personal information will be securely deleted or anonymised in accordance with industry best practices.

7. Data Security

Vectarium Technologies implements appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorised access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. These measures include:

• Encryption of data in transit using TLS/SSL protocols
• Bcrypt hashing of all account passwords
• JWT-based authentication with short-lived access tokens
• Role-based access controls limiting data access to authorised personnel only
• Regular automated backups of all client data
• Firewall and DDoS protection via Cloudflare
• SSH key-based authentication for server access

While we implement robust security measures, no method of electronic transmission or storage is entirely secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security of your personal information and encourage you to maintain strong, unique passwords for your account.

In the event of a data breach that is likely to result in a risk to your rights and freedoms, we will notify you and the Information Regulator as required under POPIA within the prescribed timeframes.

8. Your Rights

Under POPIA and applicable South African law, you have the following rights with respect to your personal information:

• Right of Access: You have the right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Right to Correction: You have the right to request the correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal information.
• Right to Deletion: You have the right to request the deletion of your personal information, subject to our legal obligations and legitimate business requirements.
• Right to Object: You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
• Right to Data Portability: You have the right to receive your personal information in a structured, commonly used format.
• Right to Lodge a Complaint: You have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa if you believe your personal information rights have been violated.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at [email protected]. We will respond to all requests within 30 days.

9. Cookies and Tracking

Our Platform uses session storage and local storage technologies (rather than traditional cookies) to maintain your authenticated session and remember your preferences. These are essential for the functioning of the Platform and cannot be disabled without affecting service functionality.

We do not use third-party advertising cookies or tracking technologies for marketing purposes. Any analytics data collected is used solely for the purpose of improving our Services.

10. Children's Privacy

The Services provided by Vectarium Technologies are intended for use by businesses and individuals aged 18 years and older. We do not knowingly collect personal information from persons under the age of 18. If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected personal information from a minor, we will take immediate steps to delete such information from our systems.

11. Cross-Border Data Transfers

Your personal information is primarily stored and processed within South Africa. Where it is necessary to transfer your personal information to third-party service providers located outside South Africa (such as Cloudflare, SendGrid, or Twilio), we ensure that such transfers are subject to appropriate safeguards in compliance with POPIA and applicable international data protection standards.

12. Changes to This Policy

Vectarium Technologies reserves the right to update this Privacy Policy at any time to reflect changes in our data processing practices or applicable legislation. We will notify you of material changes via email or dashboard notification at least 14 days prior to the effective date. The most current version of this Privacy Policy will always be accessible at vectariumtechnologies.com/privacy.html.

Your continued use of the Services following notification of changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy.

13. Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data processing practices, please contact our Information Officer:

• Email: [email protected]
• Phone: 069 527 4096
• Location: Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa

You may also contact the Information Regulator of South Africa directly:

• Website: www.inforegulator.org.za
• Email: [email protected]