The communication of personal data is mostly a question of trust. It has been shown that only the smallest percentage of users actually reads the privacy policies, the documents which inform about the privacy practices of a software vendor. Consequently, decisions are often based on the good name of the respective manufacturer and the subjective experience. Especially IT security software is often assumed to be inherently trustworthy. It seems only logical that programs which are designed to protect the user’s computer system (and data) respect themselves the personal boundaries of their clients. The presented analysis puts this assumption to the test – in a first step relying on the documents which are publicly available to concerned users, the software’s official privacy statements. It gives a preliminary insight in the manufacturers’ data practices. Mainly however, it shines a light on how transparent they communicate about them.

Published in: World Congress on Internet Security (WorldCIS-2016)

• Date of Conference: 14-16 November 2016
• DOI: 10.2053/WorldCIS.2016.0009
• ISBN: 978-1-908320-66-7
• Conference Location: Heathrow Windsor Marriott Hotel, UK