Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how personal data is collected, processed, retained, and protected when you register an account, book an examination, sit a proctored or on-demand exam, or receive credentials on the IONOS Cloud Certification Platform located at https://certify.cloud.ionos.com.

Your contractual partner and data controller for examination and certification services is the specific Regional IONOS Cloud Entity operating in the country or region from which you register your user account. Where no specific regional entity is designated for your country of registration, the data controller is IONOS Cloud GmbH, Elgendorfer Straße 57, 56410 Montabaur, Germany. Provider details and regional entity contacts can be found in our T&C_Certification Platform. For Non EU/UK-customers 6.2 of this Privacy Policy applies.

This Privacy Policy applies strictly to certification platform services and exam sittings. It is distinct from the general privacy policies governing general IONOS Cloud infrastructure products and services.

2.1 User Account Registration and Profile

To schedule or take an examination, you must register a user account.

Data Collected: Legal name, email address, one-way password hash, and multi-factor authentication setup data.

Purpose & Legal Basis: Establishing your personal, non-transferable account, ensuring secure authentication, and managing account lifecycle.

Name on Certificates: The legal name registered on your account appears directly on all issued certificates, digital badges, and official credentials. Issued credentials cannot be reissued or amended under a different name to rectify inaccurate account setup.

2.2 Booking, Purchases, and Consumer Rights

Data Collected: Selected examination tier, booking timestamps, transaction records, promotional/discount code applications, and billing details.

Purpose: Facilitating exam bookings, confirming introductory or discounted rates, administering statutory EU/UK 14-day withdrawal declarations where applicable, and managing accounting records.

2.3 Online Proctoring, Session Monitoring, and Integrity Signals

Proctored examinations require real-time monitoring to ensure exam integrity and fairness.

Video, Audio, and Screen Captures: Depending on the exam tier, monitoring measures include live webcam video and audio streaming/recording, a brief physical workspace scan prior to launch, and periodic screenshots.

Browser Security Signals: During active examination sessions, your web browser is continuously monitored for security breach signals, including tab switching, exiting full-screen mode, copy-and-paste actions, screenshot key combinations, and secondary display connections.

Consent and Launch Requirement: Applicable proctoring measures are disclosed before booking and prior to session launch, requiring your explicit consent before activation. Revoking consent for mandatory monitoring during a proctored exam terminates the session immediately without scoring.

2.4 Examination Results and Credentials

Data Collected: Item response logs, automated test scores, aggregate test marks, pass/fail status, issued certificates, and digital badges.

Public Verification & Sharing: Passing candidates receive verifiable digital badges that can be shared on professional networks (such as LinkedIn), public candidate profiles, and digital resumes. By default, candidate legal names remain private on public verification links; candidates may choose to display their name publicly via account settings. Additionally, badge verification pages can confirm whether a badge belongs to an email address supplied by a verifier. This email verification feature is enabled by default and can be switched off in account settings.

We enforce strict retention limits to ensure personal data collected during certification activities is retained no longer than necessary for verification, dispute resolution, and regulatory audit compliance.

After 90 days, individual item responses are deleted and underlying answer logs can no longer be retrieved for score disputes.

Personal data processed in connection with certification services is handled primarily by the specific IONOS Cloud entity managing your user account. Your data may be shared with strictly necessary third-party service providers—such as identity verification services, proctoring software providers, or IT hosting infrastructure—operating under strict data processing agreements. These service providers are legally and contractually required to maintain confidentiality and technical security standards equivalent to those enforced by IONOS. Personal data is never shared with third parties for their own independent marketing or commercial purposes.

Automated Scoring: Examinations are scored automatically based on predefined answer keys and published score weightings. Automated security signals or proctoring alerts may temporarily flag a sitting for inspection or withhold a score.

Restricted Human Access: Session recordings and screen captures are reviewed by human proctors only when an integrity flag is raised by the automated system or when a result is formally disputed.

Right to Human Evaluation: You maintain the right to request a human review of any flagged or disputed result. An examination result will never be permanently invalidated based solely on an automated system decision without access to human evaluation.

Review Request Process: To request a review, contact cloud@ionos.de. An independent reviewer evaluates exam logs and recordings to confirm the result, adjust the score, or grant a complimentary re-sit.

6.1 European Union (EU) and United Kingdom (UK) Schedule

For candidates residing in the EU or UK, personal data is processed under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or UK GDPR:

Legal Bases:

• Contractual Performance: Account registration, booking administration, taking exams, and credential issuance.
• Explicit Consent: Session proctoring, webcam/audio recording, workspace scans, and browser monitoring.
• Legitimate Interests: Protecting exam intellectual property, preventing fraud, and securing platform architecture.
• Legal Obligation: Maintaining financial accounting and transaction records.

Data Subject Rights: You have the right to access, rectify, or erase your personal data, restrict or object to processing, request data portability, and lodge a complaint with a competent supervisory authority. For general inquiries, support, or score disputes, please contact the certification platform support team at certification@ionos.com. For exercising your data protection and privacy rights, please contact our privacy team:

6.2 United States Privacy Notice and Non-EU/UK Customers

This section applies to residents of the United States and all other customers registering or booking from jurisdictions outside the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK). For residents of the United States, this section provides additional disclosures and rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA).

Categories of Personal Information Collected. We collect the following categories of personal information as defined by California law:

• Identifiers: Real name, alias, email address, password, country, and multi-factor authentication data.
• Commercial Information: Examination tiers purchased, booking timestamps, and transaction records.
• Internet or Electronic Network Activity: Browser security signals, screen-sharing status, keystroke combinations, and IP addresses during proctored exams.

Purpose of Collection. We collect this data for the following business purposes:

• Providing and maintaining the certification platform.
• Authenticating users and securing exam integrity.
• Managing bookings, accounting, and legal compliance.
• Detecting security incidents and preventing fraud.

Consumer Privacy Rights. US residents have the following rights regarding their personal information:

• Right to Know: You may request to know what personal information we have collected, used, and disclosed about you.
• Right to Delete: You may request the deletion of your personal information, subject to certain legal exceptions (e.g., maintaining records for legal compliance).
• Right to Correct: You may request correction of inaccurate personal information.
• Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising your privacy rights.
• Right to Opt-Out of Sale or Sharing: IONOS does not sell or share your personal information as defined under CCPA/CPRA.

Exercising Your Rights. For exercising your data protection and privacy rights, please contact our privacy team. We may require verification of your identity before processing your request.