Privacy Policy

What data we collect

The personal data we collect from you includes:

• questions, queries or feedback you leave, including your email address if you contact security.gov.uk
• your email address and subscription preferences when you sign up to our email alerts
• how you use our emails – for example whether you open them and which links you click on
• your Internet Protocol (IP) address, and details of which version of web browser you used
• information on how you use the site, using cookies and page tagging techniques

Where you provide your consent, we use Matomo cookies.

Matomo processes information about:

• the pages you visit
• how long you spend on each page
• how you got to the site
• what you click on while you’re visiting the site

We make sure you cannot be directly identified by Matomo analytics data. We do this by using an anonymisation feature and by removing any other personal data from the titles or URLs of the pages you visit.

We will not combine analytics information with other data sets in a way that would directly identify who you are.

Why we need your data

We collect your personal data in order to:

• gather feedback to improve our services, for example our email alerts
• respond to any feedback you send us, if you’ve asked us to
• send email alerts to users who request them
• provide you with information about local services
• monitor use of the site to identify security threats
• monitor the performance of the site to identify inefficiencies and JavaScript errors

We use the information we collect through Matomo Analytics to see how you use the website and to see how well the site performs on your device.

We do this to help:

• make sure security.gov.uk is meeting the needs of its users
• make improvements, for example improving site search
• make performance improvements, for example improving page load time and data usage

Our legal basis for processing your data

The legal basis for processing personal data in relation to site security is our legitimate interests, and the legitimate interests of our users, in ensuring the security and integrity of security.gov.uk.

The legal basis for processing data collected with Matomo Analytics on security.gov.uk is your consent.

What we do with your data

The data we collect may be shared with other government departments, agencies and public bodies. It may also be shared with our technology suppliers, for example our hosting provider.

We will share your data if we are required to do so by law – for example, by court order, or to prevent fraud or other crime.

The data we collect with Matomo Analytics cookies is transferred and stored with Matomo where we analyse it with Matomo Analytics.

We will not:

• sell or rent your data to third parties
• share your data with third parties for marketing purposes

Where your data is processed and stored

We design, build and run our systems to make sure that your data is as safe as possible at all stages, both while it’s processed and when it’s stored.

All personal data is stored in the European Economic Area (EEA).

How we protect your data and keep it secure

We are committed to doing all that we can to keep your data secure. We have set up systems and processes to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure of your data – for example, we protect your data using varying levels of encryption.

We also make sure that any third parties that we deal with keep all personal data they process on our behalf secure.

Your rights

You have the right to request:

• information about how your personal data is processed
• a copy of that personal data
• that anything inaccurate in your personal data is corrected immediately

You can also:

• raise an objection about how your personal data is processed
• request that your personal data is erased if there is no longer a justification for it
• ask that the processing of your personal data is restricted in certain circumstances

If you have any of these requests, get in contact with our Privacy Team.

Links to other websites

Security.gov.uk contains links to other websites.

This privacy notice only applies to Security.gov.uk, and does not cover other government services and transactions that we link to.

Following a link to another website

If you go to another website from this one, read the privacy policy on that website to find out what it does with your information.

Following a link to Security.gov.uk from another website

If you come to Security.gov.uk from another website, we may receive personal information from the other website. You should read the privacy policy of the website you came from to find out more about this.

Contact us or make a complaint

Contact us if you:

• have a question about anything in this privacy notice
• think that your personal data has been misused or mishandled

The DPO provides independent advice and monitoring of our use of personal information.

You can also make a complaint to the Information Commissioner, who is an independent regulator.

Changes to this policy

We may change this privacy policy. In that case, the ‘last updated’ date at the bottom of this page will also change. Any changes to this privacy policy will apply to you and your data immediately.

If these changes affect how your personal data is processed, we will take reasonable steps to let you know.

Last updated: 7 August 2026