Privacy Policy

1. Overview

CSCN (“we,” “us,” or “our”) is the data controller for the personal information collected through the CSCN learning platform, website, and associated applications (collectively, the “Platform”). This Privacy Policy applies to all users of the Platform, including learners, instructors, and visitors.

We are committed to handling your personal data transparently and responsibly. Where applicable, we comply with the Nigeria Data Protection Act (NDPA), the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

2. Information We Collect

Information You Provide Directly

• Account data: name, email address, password (hashed), and profile picture when you register.
• Profile information: bio, location, professional title, and social links if you choose to add them.
• Payment data: billing address and payment card details (processed directly by our payment provider; we do not store full card numbers).
• Communications: messages you send to our support team, community posts, course reviews, and feedback.
• User content: project submissions, forum contributions, and any other content you upload.

Information Collected Automatically

• Usage data: pages visited, courses viewed, lessons completed, time spent, and feature interactions.
• Device & technical data: IP address, browser type and version, operating system, device identifiers, and referring URLs.
• Learning progress: quiz scores, lesson completion status, certificate issuance records, and course progress.
• Cookie data: session tokens, preference settings, and analytics identifiers (see Section 5).

Information from Third Parties

If you sign in using Google or LinkedIn, we receive your name, email address, and profile picture from those providers, subject to the permissions you grant. We do not receive your password from these providers.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes, each grounded in a lawful basis under applicable data protection law:

• Service delivery: creating and managing your account, processing enrolments and payments, providing access to courses, and issuing certificates.
• Personalisation: recommending courses, tracking your learning progress, and tailoring your dashboard experience.
• Communication: sending transactional emails (receipts, account activity, security alerts) and, where you have opted in, promotional content and product updates.
• Platform improvement: analysing usage patterns, conducting research, and improving the quality and features of the Platform.
• Safety & compliance: detecting and preventing fraud, abuse, or illegal activity; enforcing our Terms of Service; and meeting legal obligations.
• Support: responding to your enquiries, resolving technical issues, and providing customer assistance.

We do not sell your personal data to third parties for their own marketing purposes.

4. Information Sharing

We share personal data only in the limited circumstances described below:

Service Providers

We share data with trusted third-party vendors who assist us in operating the Platform, including cloud infrastructure providers, payment processors, email delivery services, analytics providers, and customer support tools. These parties are contractually bound to process data only on our instructions and may not use it for their own purposes.

Instructors

If you are enrolled in a course, the instructor may see aggregate enrolment statistics and, where you have submitted work for review, your username and submission. Instructors do not have access to your payment details, email address, or private account information.

Legal Requirements

We may disclose your information to law enforcement, regulators, or courts when required by applicable law, when we believe disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of CSCN, our users, or the public, or to enforce our Terms of Service.

Business Transfers

In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or part of CSCN's assets, your data may be transferred to the acquiring entity. We will provide notice before your data is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

5. Cookies & Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies (local storage, pixels) to operate and improve the Platform. These are categorised as follows:

• Strictly necessary: session authentication cookies required for the Platform to function. Cannot be disabled.
• Functional: cookies that remember your preferences (language, theme, last-viewed course) to improve your experience.
• Analytics: cookies from tools such as our internal analytics and Vercel Web Analytics that help us understand how users interact with the Platform. Data is aggregated and anonymised.
• Marketing: we do not currently use advertising cookies or cross-site tracking cookies.

You can control non-essential cookies through the cookie preferences panel available in your account settings or via your browser settings. Note that disabling certain cookies may affect Platform functionality.

6. Data Security

We implement industry-standard technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data against unauthorised access, loss, destruction, or alteration. These measures include:

• Encryption of data in transit using TLS 1.2 or higher.
• Passwords stored as salted, one-way cryptographic hashes — we cannot read your password.
• Access controls ensuring only authorised CSCN personnel can access production data.
• Regular security assessments and dependency audits.
• Database hosted on Neon PostgreSQL with encrypted storage and automated backups.

No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure. If you believe your account has been compromised, please contact us immediately at security@cscn.com.

7. Data Retention

We retain your personal data for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide the Platform, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

• Account data: retained for the lifetime of your account plus 90 days after account deletion, to allow for account recovery requests.
• Purchase records: retained for a minimum of 7 years to comply with financial and tax regulations.
• Learning progress & certificates: retained for the lifetime of your account. Certificate records may be retained indefinitely to allow verification by third parties.
• Support communications: retained for 2 years after the resolution of the issue.

When data is no longer needed, it is securely deleted or anonymised.

8. Your Rights & Choices

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data. We will respond to all verified requests within 30 days.

• Access: request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• Correction: request that we correct inaccurate or incomplete data. You can update most account information directly in your profile settings.
• Deletion: request deletion of your personal data. Note that we may retain certain data as required by law or for legitimate business purposes (e.g., financial records).
• Portability: request your data in a structured, machine-readable format for transfer to another service.
• Objection: object to processing based on legitimate interests, including profiling.
• Withdrawal of consent: where processing is based on your consent (e.g., marketing emails), you may withdraw consent at any time via your notification preferences or by unsubscribing.

To exercise any of these rights, submit a request to privacy@cscn.com. We may need to verify your identity before processing the request.

9. Children's Privacy

The Platform is not directed at children under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 16. If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected data from a child under 16, we will promptly delete that information.

If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at privacy@cscn.com and we will take steps to remove that data promptly.

10. International Data Transfers

CSCN operates globally and your data may be transferred to, stored, and processed in countries outside your country of residence, including the United States, where our cloud infrastructure providers operate. These countries may have different data protection laws than your home country.

Where we transfer data from the European Economic Area (EEA) or the United Kingdom to countries not deemed adequate by the relevant authorities, we rely on Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the European Commission as the appropriate transfer mechanism. You may request a copy of applicable SCCs by contacting us at privacy@cscn.com.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically to reflect changes in our practices, technology, legal requirements, or other factors. When we make material changes, we will notify you via email or a prominent notice on the Platform at least 14 days before the updated policy takes effect.

The “Last updated” date at the top of this page indicates when the policy was most recently revised. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Your continued use of the Platform after the effective date of changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

12. Contact Us

If you have questions, concerns, or requests relating to this Privacy Policy or the handling of your personal data, please reach out to us. We aim to respond within 5 business days.