Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

PDF Blue Security ("we", "us", "our") provides a software platform for protecting PDF files and controlling access. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, use and protect personal data when you use the website pdfbluesecurity.com, including the online Control where Customers protect files and manage users in the browser, the API at api.pdfbluesecurity.com, and the reader embedded in each protected file.

2. What we collect

Account data

• Company name
• Account owner name
• Account contact email (also used as your login)
• Hashed password (we never store passwords in clear text)
• Plan and subscription status
• If you arrived from a Google ad: the ad click identifier and the time of sign-up or checkout, unless ad measurement is off for you as described in section 8

Billing data (processed by Stripe)

• Stripe customer ID and subscription ID
• Invoice records (amount, currency, status, date)

Card numbers, CVCs and expiration dates are processed and stored by Stripe under their PCI-DSS compliance. We never see or store complete card details.

Operational data created by the Customer

• End-users created by the Customer in the online Control (username; password, stored as a hash and also encrypted so the Customer can look it up in the online Control; watermark data, expirations, limits).
• Metadata of protected files (filename, limits, watermark configuration, hidden pages, IP restrictions, expiration).
• PDF files uploaded to the online Control. Our server encrypts each one to create the protected file and then discards the original PDF.

Data sent by the reader in protected files

Each protected file is a Windows program with an embedded reader. When someone opens it, the reader connects to api.pdfbluesecurity.com over HTTPS and sends:

• The encrypted document inside the file, so our server can prepare the pages shown on screen.
• An anonymous device ID, used for the Customer's device limit and, if the Customer chooses, shown in the watermark. It is a one-way hash of the computer's Windows machine ID (or of its network adapter ID if that is not available), never the real value.
• The username and password, only if the file requires sign-in.
• The reader's version, the number of copies when printing, and a short check about once a minute while the file is open, so the Customer can end access.

Our server also sees the IP address of each connection. The reader does not send the recipient's own files, Windows user name, computer name or list of printers.

Messages you send us

If you use our contact form, we receive your name, email address, company (optional) and message as an email, so we can answer you.

Logs

• Access events: opens, views, prints and device activations, including timestamps, IP addresses, usernames and tracking codes for audit. In the access log of the online Control, the Customer sees when each file was opened and printed, from which IP address, with which username if sign-in was required, and the tracking code of each session.
• Email delivery events (subject, status, provider message id).
• Webhook events received from Stripe (for billing audit and idempotency).

3. Why we collect it

• To provide the Service: authenticate users, validate file access, enforce limits.
• To bill and process subscriptions through Stripe.
• To deliver transactional emails (welcome, password recovery, important notices).
• To detect and prevent abuse and unauthorized access.
• To support our customers and resolve issues.
• To measure whether our Google ads lead to sign-ups and to active or paying customers (see section 8).

4. Where data is stored

Data is stored on our server infrastructure. We use industry-standard practices including password hashing (bcrypt), encryption of sensitive fields (Fernet symmetric encryption), HTTPS in transit, and signed Stripe webhooks for integrity.

5. Sharing with third parties

We do not sell personal data. We share data only with the service providers we use to operate the Service and to measure our advertising:

• Stripe, for payment processing and subscription billing.
• Email provider (Resend), to deliver transactional emails.
• Hosting provider, to run our servers.
• Google (Google Ads), to measure our ads, as described in section 8.

Each of these providers operates under their own privacy and security commitments.

6. How long we keep data

Account data is kept while the subscription is active and for a reasonable period after cancellation, so that the account can be reactivated without data loss. Access logs and billing records may be kept longer for legal, tax and audit obligations.

If a Customer asks us to delete their account permanently, we will delete the personal data associated with the account, subject to legal retention requirements.

7. Your rights

Depending on your jurisdiction you may have rights to access, correct, export or delete the personal data we hold about you. To exercise these rights, contact support@pdfbluesecurity.com.

8. Cookies and tracking

Default settings and your choice

We do not show a cookie banner. Outside the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Quebec, Google Ads cookies for ad measurement are on by default on our public pages. In the EEA, the UK, Switzerland and Quebec they are off by default: Google applies this based on the location of your IP address, and they are turned on only if you choose Keep them on in Cookie settings. You can turn them off at any time with Cookie settings, also linked at the bottom of our public pages; the settings panel appears only when you open it. The website, sign-up and checkout work the same either way. We save your choice in your browser's local storage (pb_consent_v1): a choice to turn them off stays until you change it or clear your browser's storage, and a choice to keep them on lasts 12 months. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal, we treat it as turning them off, even if you chose to keep them on before. If your browser blocks storage, a choice applies only to the page where you made it.

Google Ads tag and Consent Mode

We advertise on Google Search. The Google tag (gtag.js) from Google Ads loads on our public pages: home, features, pricing, the ad landing page (/start), sign-up and its confirmation, the checkout result pages, contact, terms and this policy. It does not load in the online Control, the browser reader, the file help and download pages or the password pages.

We use Google Consent Mode. When ad measurement cookies are on, Google may set and read its cookies (such as _gcl_au and _gcl_aw) to link your ad click to a sign-up or purchase, and may use this information for ad personalization. When they are off (by default in the EEA, the UK, Switzerland and Quebec, after you turn them off, or with GPC), the tag runs with ad storage, ad user data, ad personalization and analytics storage set to "denied". In that state Google does not set or read advertising cookies on our site, ad click identifiers are redacted, and Google receives only limited signals without cookies, such as that a page was viewed or a conversion happened, the consent state, and the technical data that comes with any request (for example your IP address and browser). So that ad clicks can still be measured without cookies, the ad click identifier may be added to the address of the next page you open on our site. When you turn them off, we delete Google's ad cookies on our domain from your browser. Our tag removes everything except ad and campaign parameters from the page address and referrer it reports to Google. We do not use enhanced conversions and never send Google your name, email address or documents. Google uses the information it receives under its own policies. See How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services.

What we measure

• Demo account created: once, when a new demo account is actually created. Reloading or visiting the confirmation page, or reusing an existing demo or account, does not count again: our server gives the sign-up page a one-time code and accepts it only once. The event carries only a random reference code for the sign-up (not your account number) and no value.
• First paid subscription: once per customer, after our server confirms with Stripe that the first invoice of a new subscription was paid and that the customer never paid us before. The event carries the amount paid, its currency and the Stripe invoice number as a transaction ID. Renewals, plan changes, returning customers and fully discounted sign-ups are not counted.

Both events are sent from your browser by the Google tag, under the consent state described above. They never include your name, email address or card details.

Ad click identifier

If you arrive from a Google ad, the page address includes an ad click identifier (gclid, gbraid or wbraid), which reaches our web server with the page request, like any page address. Our pages also keep a copy in your browser's local storage (used for up to 90 days) and session storage, and send the gclid with your demo sign-up or checkout, unless ad measurement is off for you. For this copy, it is off if you turned ad cookies off in Cookie settings, if your browser sends GPC, or if your browser's time zone is in Europe or another part of the EEA (a Europe/... time zone, Iceland, the Canary Islands, Madeira, the Azores, Cyprus, Ceuta and Melilla, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Martin, Réunion or Mayotte) and you did not choose Keep them on. Our pages cannot see where your IP address is, so they use the time zone as an approximation of the regions where Google keeps its cookies off by default: it also applies to anyone using a European time zone outside the EEA, it does not detect Quebec (its time zone is shared with Ontario), and travel, a VPN or a device set to another time zone can change the result. In Quebec, our copy of the click identifier therefore follows only your Cookie settings choice and GPC. When it is off, we do not keep the click identifier in your browser's storage and do not send it with your sign-up or checkout. At checkout, it is also passed to Stripe with the checkout session, so that our server can attach it to your account. We store it with your account, together with the time of sign-up or checkout, to measure whether our ads lead to active or paying customers. For this, we upload to Google Ads the click identifier with the time the account's protected files were first opened and the time, amount and currency of the account's first payment. The upload does not include your name, email address or documents. If you turn ad cookies off, we delete it from your browser's storage; to delete one already stored with your account, contact us (section 11).

How to opt out

Open Cookie settings and choose Turn them off, or turn on Global Privacy Control in your browser. You can also turn off personalized ads from Google in My Ad Center, Google's ad settings, and block or delete cookies, including Google's, in your browser settings. Signing up and using PDF Blue still work without these cookies.

Other cookies and storage

Apart from the Google cookies above, our website and the API at api.pdfbluesecurity.com do not set cookies. Our pages keep a few items in your browser's storage: your cookie choice, if you made one (pb_consent_v1), the ad click identifier as described above, the email of an existing account while you subscribe with it (session storage, so the plans page can keep that account), and, on the sign-up and checkout confirmation pages, short-lived codes in session storage that make sure a sign-up or purchase is counted only once. When you sign in to the online Control, your session token is kept in your browser's session storage until you sign out or close the tab. Most of our pages load fonts from Google Fonts, so Google also receives your IP address when the fonts load.

9. Children

The Service is not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under the age of 16.

10. Changes

We may update this Privacy Policy. Significant changes will be communicated by email or via the website. The date at the top of this page indicates when the policy was last updated.

11. Contact

For privacy questions, contact support@pdfbluesecurity.com.