Niskus VALOR — Privacy and security

How your data is protected

Encrypted at rest

Your answers, comments, reports, documents and call-booking details are encrypted (AES-256-GCM) with a data key of your organisation’s own. That key is itself locked by a master key kept outside the application, and each encrypted value is bound to its place in the database — copied anywhere else, it cannot be opened.

Every saved version is sealed

Each saved version of your questionnaire is fingerprinted (SHA-256) and chained to the one before, so history cannot be rewritten unnoticed. You can check it yourself under Data & trust in your portal.

Your organisation only

Your login opens your own organisation’s data and nothing else — never another client’s. Niskus staff reach client data only through the roles that need it.

Passwords as one-way hashes

Passwords are stored only as one-way hashes (bcrypt): nobody, Niskus included, can read yours. A password is reset only after Niskus has confirmed who you are — never by an automatic email link.

Secure sessions, no trackers

Signing in sets one secure session cookie (HttpOnly, SameSite) that ends after 8 hours, or after an hour without activity. VALOR sets no advertising or tracking cookies and loads no third-party scripts.

Access you can see

The access log in your portal shows who opened or changed your organisation’s data, and when.

A tamper-evident audit trail

Every sign-in, change, export and administrative action is recorded in a hash chain that Niskus checks. It records who, what and when — not your IP address, which is used only briefly in memory to slow down repeated sign-in or registration attempts.

Verified before the portal opens

A newly registered organisation reaches its own VALOR data, dashboard and first-phase analysis only, until Niskus has verified it. Reports are published to the portal after review.

Privacy notice

Version draft. Text marked ‹ to be confirmed › is still being finalised by Niskus.

Who is responsible

Niskus Biotec is the controller of the personal data processed in VALOR. Privacy contact: ‹ to be confirmed by Niskus ›.

What we hold

About your organisation and site — the questionnaire: production, side-streams, composition, costs, permits and goals, with where each figure came from.
About you — your name, role and work email; optionally your phone and LinkedIn address; your password, as a one-way hash only; the version of this notice you agreed to and when.
Short calls booked without an account — name, organisation, role, email, phone and LinkedIn (optional), the topic and your message. If you book while signed in, your VALOR dashboard shows that call’s time and status; a call booked with the e-mail address you sign in with shows there once Niskus has confirmed it (matched by a one-way fingerprint of the address; the details stay encrypted). While a request waits, we keep a keyed fingerprint of the network it came from — never the address itself — to limit how many requests one network can make; the key is held only in the running server’s memory, and the fingerprint is deleted once the call’s time has passed.
The quick check on the front page — no name or contact details are asked. We keep your five answers and a summary of what you were shown (encrypted), the time zone and language your browser sends, the kind of device and browser (not the full browser signature), the site that linked you there, and your login if you were signed in. A country is kept only when the server’s own network provider names it — VALOR uses no IP look-up service. To count repeat visits we keep keyed fingerprints of your network, and of your network with your browser — never the IP address itself, and they cannot be turned back into one; they are cleared after 90 days. The Niskus administrator sees these records; the check itself is deleted after twelve months.
Records of use — sign-ins, changes, exports and decisions (the audit trail and your access log).

Why

To set up and secure your account, prepare your ValorMap assessment and reports, answer your requests and calls, and keep the service secure. Legal basis: ‹ to be confirmed by Niskus ›.

Who sees it

The users of your own organisation and the Niskus team, by role. Niskus does not sell your data. Service providers, if any: ‹ to be listed by Niskus ›.

VALOR does not send your questionnaire answers to external AI services. When a Niskus staff member asks VALOR’s AI assistant for drafting help, your organisation’s name, sector and engagement stage, with what the staff member writes, go to the AI service provider (‹ provider and terms to be listed by Niskus ›). The AI-ready data form is a file you download: what you share with your own assistant stays under your control, and nothing it returns is saved until you apply it.

How long

Details of a call booked without an account are deleted twelve months after the call; a quick check twelve months after it was run (its fingerprints after 90 days). Account and assessment data: ‹ retention period to be confirmed by Niskus ›.

Where

Hosting location: ‹ to be confirmed by Niskus ›.

Your rights

Access and portability — download your organisation’s data as CSV or JSON from your portal at any time.
Correction — change your answers yourself; ask Niskus to correct anything else.
Erasure, restriction and objection — ask Niskus. Sealed history is never edited in place; a request is handled by Niskus and recorded.
Complaint — to the Data Protection Commission (Ireland) or the supervisory authority where you live or work.

Security practice

Strict browser protections on every page: a content security policy, no inline scripts, and a refusal of cross-site requests.
Sign-in, registration and every request you can make without an account (booking, viewing, changing or cancelling a call, the quick check) are rate-limited, and a refused request is recorded without your address; signatures and acceptances ask for your password again.
Backups are consistent copies taken without the master key: a backup alone cannot be read.
The record checks itself: the questionnaire seals, the audit chain and every encrypted value’s binding are swept by Niskus; a failure is handled as an incident.

VALOR