Privacy Policy

Introduction

Hawzu is a test case management platform operated by Snoowl. We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting the information you share with us.

This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, and how it is handled when you use Hawzu and related services.

Information we collect

Hawzu may collect the following categories of information:

• Account information such as name, email address, and workspace details
• Usage data including actions performed within the application for operational, audit, and security purposes
• Authentication data such as login events and security-related metadata
• Technical data such as IP address, browser type, and device information

How we use your information

Information is used only for legitimate and necessary purposes, including:

• Providing and operating the Hawzu platform
• Authenticating users and enforcing access control
• Maintaining audit logs and execution traceability
• Improving reliability, performance, and security
• Communicating important service-related information

Data storage and security

Hawzu stores data on managed cloud infrastructure and follows industry-standard security practices.

Data is encrypted in transit and at rest where appropriate. Access to systems and data is restricted and monitored.

Data sharing

Hawzu does not sell your data.

Data may be shared only with trusted service providers where necessary to operate the platform (such as infrastructure, monitoring, and analytics providers), and only under appropriate safeguards.

Hawzu Recorder browser extension

Hawzu Recorder is a Chrome extension that records a test you perform, so it can be saved to a Hawzu test case as readable steps and automation scripts. It acts only in the separate Chrome window it opens for a recording, and only after you press Start recording in that window. In your other tabs it does nothing.

The extension can also open that window so you can pick a single element again for Hawzu's Object Repository; it then records nothing, reads only the locators of the element you pick and the address of the page you pick it on, and hands them to your Hawzu tab, keeping them in your browser for at most an hour until that tab takes them.

While a recording is running, the extension reads, in that window only:

• clicks, key presses, and the text you type into fields
• options you select and boxes you check
• the names of files you choose to upload, never their contents
• the addresses of the pages you visit
• the text, labels and attributes of the elements you interact with, which it uses to build locators for the scripts

When you type into a field the extension recognises as a password, a one-time code or a card number, or a field you mark as Secret, only an environment variable name such as HAWZU_PASSWORD is saved, not what you typed. Recognising these fields is a best effort, and other values are saved as you typed them, so mark any sensitive field as Secret before typing into it.

The extension does not send what it records to any server itself. It hands the recording to your signed-in Hawzu tab, which saves it to your Hawzu workspace, where it is stored and protected like the rest of your workspace data and visible to members who can view test cases. A recording that has not been saved yet waits in the extension's storage in your browser for up to 7 days; the recording in progress is cleared when the browser closes.

We do not sell this data, use it for advertising, or use it for anything other than recording and saving your tests. The extension contains no analytics. Access to all sites is requested the first time you record, and is used only in the recording window. You can delete recordings in Hawzu at any time, and removing the extension removes the data it keeps in your browser.

Cookies and analytics

Our public websites — the main site, the documentation site, and the blog — set a small number of cookies when you visit. We do not use advertising cookies, we do not run ads tracking or remarketing, and we do not sell or share this data with advertisers.

• Analytics — cookies _ga and _ga_<id>, set by Google Analytics 4. These record aggregate usage of our public websites — pages viewed, approximate location by country or region, referring site, device and browser type — so we can understand which content is useful. They contain a randomly generated identifier, not your name or email address.
• Sign-up attribution — our own cookie hawzu_attr. It records the site and campaign tags that first brought you to us, and the page you landed on, so we can tell which channels bring people who create an account. It is first-party, written once on your first visit, lasts 30 days, is never shared with third parties, and is read only if you create an account, when it is saved with that account.

Google acts as our processor for analytics. We have disabled Google Signals and ad personalisation on our property, so this data is not used to build advertising profiles or to track you across devices. Google Analytics does not record full IP addresses.

Analytics data is retained for 14 months. You can opt out of Google Analytics on any website using Google's browser add-on at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout, or by blocking cookies in your browser settings. Blocking these cookies does not affect your ability to use Hawzu.

The Hawzu application itself loads no third-party analytics or advertising scripts. When you create an account it reads the hawzu_attr cookie described above, and nothing else set by our websites.

Server logs and site statistics

Separately from cookies, the servers behind our websites and the Hawzu application record each request they receive, as almost every website does: your IP address, your browser's user-agent string, the address you requested (including any campaign tags in the link, such as utm_source), the site that referred you, and the time. This needs no cookie or script and happens whether or not you block cookies. These raw logs are kept for 30 days and used to keep the service secure, filter out bots and automated attacks, and produce the statistics below.

From those logs we compile site statistics, and keep only:

• the pages viewed and the videos played
• the referring website's domain, not the page you came from
• the campaign tags on the link you arrived by
• whether that link came from a Google, Microsoft or LinkedIn ad. We record which network, never the click identifier the link carried
• your country, looked up from your IP address, which is not stored. IP geolocation by DB-IP
• your device type (desktop, mobile or tablet) and browser family
• whether you went on to open the Hawzu application the same day

To count visits without recognising anyone, we group requests using a one-way hash of your IP address combined with a random value that changes every day. We can tell that two requests on the same day came from the same connection, but not that you came back on another day. Each day's random value is deleted after 31 days, after which that day's hashes can no longer be linked to an IP address. Records of individual visits are deleted after 90 days. Daily totals, which contain nothing about any individual visitor, are kept.

We rely on our legitimate interest in keeping our sites secure and understanding how people find and use them. These statistics are not shared with advertisers or used to build a profile of you. You can object at any time through the channels under Your rights.

Data retention

Data is retained only for as long as necessary to provide the service, comply with legal obligations, and support audit, security, and operational requirements.

Your rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have rights to access, correct, or delete your personal information.

Requests can be made through official Snoowl support channels.

Changes to this policy

This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time. Any changes will be reflected on this page with an updated effective date.