Privacy Policy & Data Governance.
StackExpert operates an engineering services platform for mission-critical infrastructure. We hold ourselves to uncompromising standards of technical transparency, data minimization, and zero-trust credential isolation.
Scope & Data Minimization Principles
This Privacy Policy describes how StackExpert collects, stores, protects, and handles information across our public website, Client Portal, and administrative platforms. Our foundational engineering rule is data minimization: we never collect extraneous behavioral tracking data, sell customer information to third parties, or run third-party advertising networks.
Information We Collect & Process
We collect only the technical, contractual, and account information required to provide professional systems engineering and client management services:
Contact & Inquiry Data
When submitting pre-sales inquiries, we collect your name, business email, company name, primary engineering need, operating environment summary (AWS, GCP, Hetzner, Bare-Metal), and message details.
Account & Auth Credentials
Full name, corporate email address, organization name, cryptographic password hash (Argon2id/bcrypt), and encrypted TOTP two-factor authentication secrets.
Diagnostic Files & Logs
Configuration snippets, log dumps, error stack traces, and architectural diagrams uploaded via tickets or project milestones. All files are automatically scanned by ClamAV for malware upon ingestion.
Session & Security Telemetry
IP address, browser user-agent, session identifiers, device timestamps, and immutable audit logs of privileged security and vault access actions.
Credential Vaulting & Cryptographic Destruction
Client infrastructure credentials (such as temporary SSH access, database staging credentials, or root passwords) receive special protective handling under our zero-trust vault architecture:
Uploaded Documents, Diagnostics & Malware Scanning
Files uploaded to tickets, service requests, or project workspaces are protected through isolated storage mechanisms:
- Automated Ingestion Scanning: All files are passed through a dedicated ClamAV daemon prior to being made available in the portal. Suspicious files are instantly quarantined.
- Non-Executable Storage: Uploaded evidence is stored in private, non-web-accessible directories with execution permissions stripped.
- Role-Based Access: Documents marked as internal engineering notes are completely hidden from client views, while client evidence is accessible only to members of that specific organization.
Third-Party Infrastructure & Subprocessors
StackExpert relies on select, industry-standard infrastructure providers to operate resilient platform services:
| Provider | Function | Data Handled & Security Controls |
|---|---|---|
| Cloudflare | WAF, DDoS mitigation, DNS, Turnstile bot verification | IP address and ephemeral network telemetry. Turnstile operates without third-party tracking cookies or personal fingerprinting. |
| Payment Processors (Stripe & PayPal) | Payment processing & settlement | PCI-DSS compliant payment processing. StackExpert never handles, transmits, or stores full card numbers (PANs) or security codes (CVVs). For corporate wire transfers, manual settlements are processed via standard corporate banking rails without storing client banking credentials. |
| Amazon Web Services (AWS) | Core platform compute, object storage, and backups | SOC 2 / ISO 27001 compliant cloud infrastructure. Encrypted at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.3). |
| Transactional Email (SMTP/API) | Ticket updates, invoice notifications, security alerts | Recipient email and notification subject. Passwords and raw credential secrets are stripped prior to email dispatch. |
Data Retention & Deletion Schedule
We maintain structured retention schedules to balance engineering context with strict privacy requirements:
Your Rights & Privacy Desk
Under applicable data protection frameworks (including GDPR, CCPA, and statutory regulations), you have full authority over your personal information: