Privacy notice

Who we are

HackSchool Africa Limited is a private company registered in Nigeria (RC 9910521), based in Lagos, Nigeria. We decide why and how your personal data is used for the purposes in this notice, which makes us the data controller.

For privacy questions and requests, email info@hackschoolafrica.com.

What we collect

When you apply through our application form, we collect:

• your full name and email address
• your WhatsApp number, if you choose to give it
• your country and city
• what you are doing at the moment and your experience with tech
• why you want to learn cybersecurity
• whether you can commit about 7 to 8 hours a week, and whether you have a suitable laptop and which operating system it runs
• how you heard about us
• your confirmation that you are 18 or older
• your confirmation that you have read this notice
• whether you have chosen to receive emails about future cohorts and news (optional)

We do not ask for payment details, identity documents, your date of birth or any file uploads in the application.

If you email us, we receive your email address and whatever you include in your message.

When you use the application form, Google reCAPTCHA collects information about your device and how you interact with the form, to tell people from automated spam.

Why we use it, and our lawful basis

We use your personal data only for the purposes below. For each one, the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 requires a lawful basis, which we state.

• Assessing your application and communicating with you about it, including inviting you to a short conversation if needed. Lawful basis: the processing is necessary to take steps at your request before entering into an agreement with you.
• If you are accepted, running the programme for you, including sending you the cohort dates, programme fee and payment information, and keeping your learner record. Lawful basis: performance of our agreement with you.
• Protecting the application form against spam and abuse. Lawful basis: our legitimate interest in keeping the application process secure and usable.
• Sending you emails about future cohorts and news, only if you tick the optional box on the form. Lawful basis: your consent. You can withdraw it at any time using the unsubscribe link in any of these emails or by emailing info@hackschoolafrica.com. Withdrawing does not affect your application.
• Keeping records that the law requires us to keep. Lawful basis: compliance with a legal obligation.

Applicants must be 18 or older

The programme is open only to people aged 18 or older, and the application form asks you to confirm that you are. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18. If we find that we have, we delete it.

How applications are decided

Every application is reviewed by a person. We do not make decisions about applications by automated means, and we do not use profiling.

Service providers we use

We use these service providers to run the application process and this website:

• Tally provides our application form and stores your answers on our behalf, as our service provider.
• Google reCAPTCHA protects the application form against spam. Google provides reCAPTCHA under its own terms and privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy.
• Cloudflare hosts this website, runs our domain, forwards emails sent to info@hackschoolafrica.com to our inbox, and provides this website's cookieless analytics. Like any web host, it processes technical information such as IP addresses to deliver and protect the site.
• Google Gmail is the inbox that receives emails forwarded from our address and notifications of new applications. Google provides Gmail under its own terms and privacy policy.

We never sell your personal data, and we do not share it with anyone else unless the law requires us to.

Processing outside Nigeria

Our service providers operate internationally, so your personal data may be stored or processed outside Nigeria. Each of them states, in its own terms and policies, that it protects the data it processes with security measures and with contractual or other safeguards for international transfers.

Where your personal data is transferred outside Nigeria, we do so only on the grounds that the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 allows, for example because the transfer is necessary to process your application at your request.

How long we keep it

• If you are not accepted, or you withdraw your application, we delete your application 12 months after the decision.
• If you are accepted, your application becomes part of your learner record. We keep it for the length of the programme plus 12 months, then delete it.
• If you have agreed to receive emails about future cohorts and news, we keep your name and email address for that purpose until you withdraw your consent.

These periods apply to every copy we hold, including exports from the application form and copies in email.

You can ask us to delete your data earlier at any time by emailing info@hackschoolafrica.com.

Your rights

Under the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023, you have the right to:

• access the personal data we hold about you and receive a copy
• have inaccurate or incomplete data corrected
• have your data deleted
• object to our use of your data
• receive your data in a commonly used format and have it transferred to another organisation (data portability)
• withdraw your consent at any time, where we rely on consent

To use any of these rights, email info@hackschoolafrica.com. We may need to confirm your identity before acting on a request. We respond without undue delay and do not charge for reasonable requests.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal data, you can complain to the Nigeria Data Protection Commission: https://ndpc.gov.ng.

Cookies and analytics

This website sets no cookies. To understand how the site is used, we use Cloudflare Web Analytics, which counts visits without cookies or other tracking stored in your browser.

The application form on Tally and Google reCAPTCHA may set their own cookies when you use the form.

Keeping your data safe

We use two-factor authentication on the accounts we use for the application form, email and website, and access to applications is limited to the people who review them. No method of storing or sending data is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

If we suspect a personal data breach, we follow our incident process. This includes notifying the Nigeria Data Protection Commission within the time the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 requires, and telling the people affected where the law requires it.

Changes to this notice

If we change how we use your personal data, we will update this notice and the date at the top of the page.