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HackerRank Privacy Policy

Last Updated: March 26, 2024

HackerRank is committed to protecting your privacy and to transparency regarding the data about you that we collect and how we use it. This Privacy Policy is designed to let you know the personal data and/or personal information about you that Interviewstreet, Inc. and its affiliates, doing business as HackerRank (“HackerRank,” “we,” “us,” “our”), collect and process when you visit our website (“Website”) or use the services and applications we offer (“Services”). We refer to our Website and Services together in this Privacy Policy as our “Offerings.”

This Privacy Policy applies to our collection and use of your personal data or personal information (or equivalent terms). When we refer to your “data” or your “information” in this Privacy Policy, we are referring to personal data or personal information as defined by applicable law.  We use those terms interchangeable throughout this Policy to refer to data or information that relates to you as an identifiable person, that identifies, relates to, or describes you, or that is reasonably capable of being associated with or linked to you.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully to understand our practices and your rights in your data. If you do not agree with this Privacy Policy in general or any part of it, you should not access or use our Offerings.

1. SCOPE OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY

There are several ways to use our Offerings or we may collect and process your data. For example, you might visit our Website or use our Services under your own account for your own purposes, or you might use our Services because you have been invited or granted access to our Services by a HackerRank business customer who uses our Services (an “Employer”). The data we collect and process and how we use that data depends on how you use or the Employer uses our Offerings.

Some ways we might collect and process your data are when you are a:

  • Visitor to our Website;
  • Community Member of the HackerRank developer community using our Services in your individual capacity and not in connection with an Employer’s use of our Services;
  • User using our Services through an Employer that authorized your access to our Services under the Employer’s account;
  • Candidate who has been to use our Services by an Employer using our Services for the Employer’s employment-related or candidate search and/or engagement purposes

2. HOW WE COLLECT YOUR DATA

We collect and process your data in the following ways:

  • Automatically. We collect and process certain data automatically when you use our Offerings. This may include technical information about your use of the Offerings and the pages you visit, actions you take, and features you use when interacting with our Offerings.
  • Provided By You. We collect and process the data you provide to us when you sign up for, access, use, or request support for our Offerings. We may collect this data, for example, when you create a HackerRank account, log in to our Services, submit forms or entries, register for services or offers, post to a forum or discussion board, share information your social media content via our Offerings, correspond with us, or participate as a Candidate in Candidate-related features used by Employers (such as an assessment, test, or interview) (“Candidate Features”).
  • Provided By Employers. If you are a User or Candidate, we collect and process any data that the Employer inviting or authorizing you to use our Services provides to us. You may contact the respective Employer for more information about the specific data it provides to us.
  • Received From Third Parties. We may collect and process information we receive about you from third parties we work with to assist us in providing, maintaining, improving, or promoting our Services. These third parties include business partners and vendors who collect your data from their various sources, social media providers through which you share your data with us, advertising networks, analytics providers, search information providers, and third-party services that may be integrated into our Offerings.

3. DATA WE COLLECT AND PROCESS

The types of data we collect and process depend on which of our Offerings you use and how you use those Offerings.

3.1. Data We Automatically Collect

HackerRank may collect the following data automatically when you use our Offerings:

  • IP Address and Internet or Electronic Activity. To the extent it may relate to you, your IP address and technical data in the form of computer connection information, browser data (such as browser type and version), and activity such as features accessed, pages visited, preferences, and interactions with respect to the Website or Services. HackerRank may also use log files, cookies and similar technologies to collect and process this technical information. For more information on our use of cookies and similar technologies, please see the “Cookies and Similar Technology” section below.

3.2. Data You Provide to Us

HackerRank may collect the following data if you provide it to us in connection with your use of our Offerings either for your individual purposes or in connection with an Employer’s use of our Offerings:

  • Identifiers. Data that may identify you, such as your name, alias, username, email address, non-precise location, social media profiles, telephone number, account name.
  • Professional or Employment Information. Data related to your current or past employment, such as job title, position, work experience, and employer.
  • Characteristics. Data about your gender or your racial or ethnic origin or other characteristics if you provide it to us as part of your Community Member account or if an Employer provides it to us or requests that you provide it to us as part of your use of a Candidate Feature. We will ask for your consent before we collect any data about your racial or ethnic origin for our own purposes.
  • Education Information. Data about your current or past educational background, such as institutions attended or certifications or degrees awarded.
  • Interactions and Results. To the extent it relates to you, when you participate in a Candidate Feature or other interactive feature of our Services (such as a test, assessment, or interview), we collect and process data you input into the Services, your interactions with and actions taken within the Services, audio/visual and written content generated in connection with your use of the Services, and the results generated by your use of Services (such as your answers, score, or ranking) (together, your “Results”).
  • Other Provided Data. Other types of data you provide to us in connection with your or an Employer’s use of our Offerings.
  • Facial Image (for Candidates only). Certain Candidate Features allow Employers to enable functionality that requires HackerRank to collect and process your facial image for the purpose of facial matching and detection. We only collect and process your facial image if the Employer enables that functionality and you consent to that collection and processing.

For information on the how we collect and process your facial image as a Candidate, see our Image Detection Notice.

3.3. Data Received From Third Parties

We may collect and process your data we receive from third parties who have collected that data so that we can provide certain Services to Employers searching for potential Candidates.  These third parties have indicated that they may collect your data from internal data sharing networks and from outside sources such as open-sourced datasets, publicly available data, governmental records, and other proprietary sources they use.  The data we receive from these third-party providers may include information described above as Identifiers, Professional or Employment Information, Characteristics, and Education Information and which may include your name, education, qualifications, job title, work history and experience, and contact information that our third-party providers have collected.

4. HOW WE USE YOUR DATA 

4.1. Purpose of Processing

HackerRank uses your data for a variety of business purposes and within our legitimate interests. We may use your data to do any of the following:

  • Provide, develop, maintain, enhance, or support our Offerings or to enter into or perform (or take steps to enter into or perform) under a contract between us and the Employer or between us and you;
  • Provide our Services to the applicable Employer;
  • Allow Employers to use our Services to search for potential Candidates the Employer may want to contact;
  • Detect, prevent, mitigate, or repair errors or technical issues or actual or suspected fraud or illegal activity related to our Offerings;
  • Ensure the Offerings are used in compliance with applicable terms and agreements;
  • Communicate with you about our Services or about information we believe may be of interest to you, such as to respond to your inquiries, fulfill your requests, send announcements or transactional messages about our Offerings, or send you news, advertising, promotional, or marketing information about our Services;
  • Understand how you use our Offerings so we can enhance, optimize, or personalize them for your or the Employer’s use;
  • We may use your anonymized or de-identified gender or racial or ethnic origin information for the purposes of ensuring our Services are unbiased and in compliance with applicable non-discrimination laws;
  • Comply with our legal obligations or law enforcement requests or to comply with applicable laws;
  • If you are a Candidate, we may use your data to “watermark,” stamp, or label your Results or participation to identify you as the person who participated in the Candidate Feature;
  • Act in our legitimate interest or for a business purpose in accordance with applicable law;
  • For other specific purposes to which you have consented.

4.2. Processing Duration

If you are a Visitor or Community Member, we process your data only for as long as permitted by law or until you cancel your account (if you are a Community Member). As noted below, you may have a legal right to request that we delete or stop processing your data sooner. If you are a User or Candidate, we will process your data for as long as permitted by our agreement with the Employer or as otherwise required by applicable law.

5. HOW WE DISCLOSE YOUR DATA

We may disclose the categories of data listed in the “Data We Collect and Process” Section of this Privacy Policy to the following third parties:

  • Employers. If you are a Candidate or User, we disclose your data (including Results) to the Employer applicable to your use of our Services.
  • Platform Service Providers. We use third-party providers to perform certain functions of our Services platform.  We may disclose your data to these third-parties in order to provide our Services to Employers or to you.  These third-parties include our sub-processors listed on HackerRank’s Sub-processor list page here: Sub-processor List.
  • Other Third Party Providers. These may include, among others: payment processors to process payments you make to HackerRank; sales, marketing, communication, and advertising services to provide you with information and offers about our Services; analytics tools to help us understand your use of our Offerings; services to authenticate your identity when you access the Services; technical, security, and fraud prevention services; and product development services.
  • Integrations. If you are a Candidate and the Employer integrates our Services with third-party services used by the Employer, HackerRank may disclose your data to those third-party integrated services as determined by the Employer.
  • Legal or Compliance Purposes. If we have a legal or compliance obligation that requires we share your data to comply with applicable law, we will share your data with any third parties as required for us to comply. This may include sharing any gender or racial or ethnic origin data you provide us with third parties to help ensure our Services are in compliance with applicable laws. Likewise, we may disclose your information to third parties as may be reasonably necessary to enforce any agreements between us and you or us and the Employer or to protect the rights, property, or safety of any person or entity.
  • Community Members. As a Community Member, we may list your username on a leader board if you participate in a coding challenge or similar activity, and you may choose to post your data to publicly-available sections of the Offerings. Also, we may disclose Community Members’ data with potential Employers if they choose to participate in HackerRank Services that offer that disclosure.
  • Our Affiliates. We may disclose your data to an affiliated entity that owns, is owned by, or has the same owner(s) as HackerRank, consistent with the terms of the Privacy Policy.
  • Business Transfers. If we sell or merge our business or sell all or substantially all of our assets (or are preparing to do so), we may disclose your information to the prospective buyer or merger entity, your data may be one of the assets transferred. In these cases, we will take reasonable steps to ensure your data remains subject to protections at least as protective as the terms of this Privacy Policy.
  • Legitimate Interests. We may disclose your data in other cases where it is reasonably necessary to achieve our legitimate interest or a business purpose in accordance with applicable law.
  • With Your Consent. We may request that you separately consent to us disclosing your data for a specific purpose and, in those cases, we will only disclose your data with your consent.

6. HOW WE MAY USE AUTOMATED PROCESSING

6.1. AI Features Generally

If you use our Services as a Candidate, or if we collect your data as a potential Candidate, some features of our Services allow Employers to enable the use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and/or other automated processing that relates to you (our “AI Features”).

  • Employer Determined. The Employer determines whether to use our AI Features functionality. Our Services do not make use of AI Features unless the Employer elects to make use of the AI Feature.
  • Results and Employer Discretion. The results generated by our AI Features are made available to the Employer. The Employer retains ultimate discretion as to how to interpret and act on (or not act on) those results.
  • Not for Unique Identification.  We do not use any data collected or processed via our AI Features for the purpose of uniquely identifying you.
  • No Training on Your Data.  We do not train any of our AI Feature models on your personal data, nor do we authorize our third party provides of any AI Features to train their models on your data.

6.2. Candidate Detection AI Features

If you participate in our AI Features as a Candidate, those AI Features may use artificial intelligence or machine learning to monitor a Candidate’s use of the Candidate Feature to, depending on the AI Feature, capture a Candidate's facial image taken from your webcam or device at intervals during your participation and analyze those images for the purpose of detecting changes to the facial images, or to analyze patterns of your coding and interactions and behavior within a Candidate Feature to indicate whether answers may be copied from or generated or assisted by using another unauthorized source.  We will provide Candidates with notice and ask for your consent before you participate in a Candidate Feature that uses AI Features. If the Employer enables an AI Feature and you do not consent to the use of the AI Feature, you may not be able to participate in that Candidate Feature and you should contact the Employer to discuss any alternative options it may offer.

6.3. Potential Candidate AI Features

Employers may use other AI Features to search for potential Candidates based on data we have collected or received.  In this case, our AI Features will process your data to determine whether you maybe a potential Candidate that meets the Employer's search criteria and return those results to the Employer.  The Employer may elect to contact you as a potential Candidate.  When processing your data as a potential Candidate, we only process your data prior to the Employer's decision whether to engage with you and prior to your initial interaction with the Employer, if any, and prior to the Employer making any employment-related decisions related to you.

6.4. Other Automated Processing

Aside from our AI Features, we and our service providers may use other automated processing and/or automated decision making where it is necessary to enter into or perform a contract between you and HackerRank or to detect or prevent fraud, abuse, or violations of our Offerings. By using our Services, you consent to our use of automated processing/decision making for this purpose. We may update the automated techniques and tools we use over time.

7. COOKIES AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGY

We use cookies or similar technologies when you visit our Website. These are commonly-used data collection tools that include small text files placed on your computer or device by websites you visit or HTML-formatted emails you open to help our Website work more efficiently and provide you information about our Services.

  • How We Use Cookies. We may use cookies, web beacons, pixel tags, anonymous tracking, or similar technologies on our Website as follows:
    • Essential Cookies to authenticate your identity and prevent fraud;
    • Analytics Cookies to track information about how our Offerings are used so we can make improvements, test new pages, features or functionality, or tailor information presented to you based on your usage of the Offerings; and
    • Advertising Cookies to provide Visitors or Community Members with information and advertising about our Services.
  • Your Cookies Choices. You have the choice to opt-out of the use of certain cookies. You may opt-out of our use of cookies by activating the appropriate setting on your browser to block cookies. Also, when we use cookies for advertising purposes, most advertising networks offer a way to opt out of targeted advertising. For more information about your cookies choices, please visit: Your Ad Choices or Your Online Choices. You may opt out by clicking here: Your Ad Choices Opt-Out or Network Advertising Opt-Out (or if located in the European Union, by clicking here: Online Choices Opt-Out). Please note that this does not opt you out of being served all advertising - you will continue to receive generic advertisements. Also, if you block cookies, you may not be able to access certain parts of our Website or receive certain Services
  • Do-Not-Track. There are several ways you can prevent tracking of your online activity. One of them is by setting a preference in your browser to alert websites you visit that you do not want them to collect certain information about you. This is referred to as a “Do-Not-Track” signal. Please note that our Website may not recognize or take action in response to Do-Not-Track signals from your browser.

8. YOUR RIGHTS IN YOUR DATA

8.1. GDPR (European Economic Area)

If you are located in the European Economic Area, you have rights in your data under the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”).

When using our Services as a User or Candidate, then the Employer inviting you or granting you access to our Services is the “data controller” and HackerRank is the “data processor” under the GDPR. In that case, HackerRank will process your data in accordance with the agreement between HackerRank and the Employer.

GDPR Rights

If we collect or process your data other than as a User or Candidate, then HackerRank is the “data controller” under the GDPR.  In that case, you have the following rights in your data:

  • The right of access to obtain confirmation as to whether or not personal data are being processed and to obtain certain information about your data we process. You can find much of that information within this Privacy Policy;
  • The right to request that we rectify any data you believe is inaccurate and that we complete any data you believe is incomplete;
  • The right to request that we erase your data in certain situations, including where it is no longer necessary for us to hold the data, where you withdraw your previous consent to our processing of the data and we have no other legal basis to continue processing the data, where you object to our legitimate interest for processing without us having overriding grounds, or where you believe our processing is unlawful;
  • The right to request that we restrict processing of your data in certain situations;
  • The right to portability of your data, which allows you to request that we transfer your data to another organization or directly to you;
  • The right to object to/stop our processing of your data where processing is based on our legitimate interests and we do not have an overriding legitimate grounds to continue processing. You have the right to object to our processing of your data for marketing purposes, including where we build profiles for such purposes, and we will stop processing your data for that purpose;
  • The right to not be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing without your consent, including building profiles for such purposes, where the decision would have a legal effect on you or produce a similarly significant effect, except to the extent automated processing is permitted by the GDPR. Note that, if an AI Feature as used by the Employer requires your consent and you do not consent, you will not be able to participate in Candidate Features that use the AI Feature.
  • In addition, if you consider our processing of your data to be in violation of your rights under GDPR, you have the right to complain to your applicable data protection supervisory authority.

Limits on GDPR Rights

Note that your rights in your data listed above have some limits under GDPR. For example, you may not be able to exercise your GDPR rights if fulfilling your request would adversely affect other individuals or our trade secrets or intellectual property, where there is an overriding public interest, or where we are required by law to retain your personal data.

8.2. Residents of California and Other Applicable U.S. States 

If you are a resident of California, your rights in your data are governed by the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (the “CCPA”). If you are a resident of another U.S. state having laws governing your data privacy rights in your personal data or personal information, your rights may be governed by the applicable data protection laws of your jurisdiction.

When using our Services as a User or Candidate, the Employer granting you access to our Services is the “business” under the CCPA, and HackerRank is the “service provider” under the CCPA. In that case, HackerRank will process your data in accordance with the agreement between HackerRank and the Employer.

CCPA Rights

When we collect your data other than as a User or Candidate, then HackerRank is the “business” under CCPA. In that case, you have the following rights:

  • The right to request that we delete the personal information we have collected from you (and direct our third-party service providers to do the same). This right is subject to several exceptions where the information is necessary for us or a third party to do any of the following:
    • complete the transaction for which the personal information was collected, provide services to you, or otherwise perform a contract between you and HackerRank;
    • help to ensure security and integrity of the Offerings;
    • debug to identify and repair errors that impair our Offerings;
    • exercise free speech, ensure the right of another to exercise that their right of free speech, or exercise another right provided for by law;
    • comply with the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act pursuant to Chapter 3.6 of Title 12 of Part 2 of the California Penal Code;
    • engage in public or peer-reviewed scientific, historical, or statistical research in the public interests that conforms or adheres to all other applicable ethics and privacy laws when our deletion of the information is likely to render impossible or seriously impair the ability to complete such research, if you have provided your informed consent;
    • making internal uses that are reasonably aligned with your expectations based on your relationship with us and compatible with the context in which you provided the information; or
    • comply with a legal obligation.
  • The right to request that we correct any inaccurate personal information we maintain about you, taking into account the nature of the personal information and the purposes of processing the personal information.
  • The right to know/request that we disclose to you the following details about your data we collect: the categories of personal information we have collected; the categories of sources from which we collect your data; the business or commercial purpose for collecting, selling, or sharing your data; the categories of third parties to whom we disclose your data; and the specific pieces of data we have collected about you. We have sought to include this information in this Privacy Policy.
  • The right to not be discriminated against for exercising any of your rights under the CCPA.
  • The right to limit our use of your “Sensitive Personal Information” (as defined by the CCPA), to that which is necessary to provide reasonably expected services to you, if we collect any “Sensitive Personal Information” for our own purposes outside of providing our Services to an Employer.

Data Collected Over the Past 12 Months

The categories of personal information we may have collected over the past 12 months are listed in the “Data We Collect and Process” section of this Privacy Policy.

We Do Not Sell or Share Personal Information

HackerRank does not sell your information to third parties, nor do we share your information with third parties for any cross-context behavioral advertising purposes as defined by the CCPA. If, in the future, we intend to sell or share your information as defined by the CCPA, we will provide you notice and you will have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information via a “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” or similar link and to request certain information about our disclosure of personal information to third parties.

8.3. Exercising Rights in Your Data

  • Other than as a User or Candidate. To exercise your rights other than as a User or Candidate, please submit a support request to either of the following:
    • Via email: support@hackerrank.com (with “Privacy” in the subject line)
    • Via mail: Interviewstreet, Inc., Attn: Privacy, 10080 N Wolfe Road, Cupertino, CA 95014.

    We intend to respond to a request for access or deletion within 1 month of receiving a request under GDPR, within 45 days of receiving a request under the CCPA, or within the time period permitted under any other applicable law. If we need more time, we will let you know the reason and the extension period. We may require that you verify your identity in order for us to process your request. If we are unable to verify your identity, we may deny your request and we will let you know if that is the case.

    Note that deleting or restricting the processing of your data may impact any features of our Services that require that data to function. As a result, if you delete or restrict processing of your personal information, you may no longer be able to use all or part of the Services.

  • As a User or Candidate. To exercise your rights in your data as a User or Candidate, please contact your respective Employer. We will follow the Employer’s instructions regarding your data.

9. CHILDREN

We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under age 16 for any purpose. If we learn that we have collected personal information of a child under age 16, we will attempt to delete that personal data as soon as possible and take any other measures required under applicable law.

10. CHANGES TO PRIVACY POLICY

We may make changes to this Privacy Policy at any time. The “Last Updated” date at the top of this page refers to the last date this Privacy Policy was updated. Changes to this Privacy Policy are effective immediately upon notice, which notice we may give by any reasonable means permitted by law, including, but not limited to, by posting a revised version of this Privacy Policy or other notice on the Website. Please check back frequently for any updates or changes.