Privacy policy
The short version: we collect the details you type into our enquiry form, we use them to reply to you and to provide IT support if you become a client, we do not sell them to anybody, and you can ask us to delete them at any time.
1. Who is responsible for your information
The responsible party is Stellenbyte Solutions (Pty) Ltd, registration number 2025/693990/07, of Kuils River, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa.
Our Information Officer is the director of the company, contactable at info@stellenbyte.co.za or +27 71 839 7615.
2. What we collect, and why
When you use the enquiry form
We collect your name, email address, business name (optional) and the message you write. We use these solely to read and reply to your enquiry, to arrange and carry out a free IT health check if you ask for one, and to prepare a quotation.
When you contact us on WhatsApp, by phone or by email
We receive whatever you send us, which will include your phone number in the case of WhatsApp or a call. We use it to respond to you. WhatsApp messages are processed by WhatsApp Ireland Limited under its own privacy terms, which we do not control.
When you become a client
To deliver IT support we necessarily hold contact details for you and your staff, billing details, and technical information about your systems — device names, user accounts, network configuration, licence details and support ticket history. We collect this from you directly and in the course of doing the work. We use it only to provide, support, secure and invoice for the services you have engaged us for.
When we assess or protect your systems
A Cyber Health Check, and the ongoing security plans, involve reading configuration data from your systems: user accounts and sign-in settings, mailbox rules, administrator rights, device and patch status, backup configuration and security alerts. This is technical data, but it identifies your staff, so we treat it as personal information. We collect it read-only, we hold it as an operator on your behalf under a written mandate, we do not use it for anything other than assessing and protecting your systems, and we delete the raw collected data once the report has been delivered and any agreed work is complete. Reports and security records are kept securely and are never stored on shared drives or sent by unencrypted email.
When you visit this website
Our hosting provider automatically logs standard technical information — IP address, browser type, pages requested and time of request — for security, abuse prevention and to keep the site running. We do not use this to build a profile of you.
3. Whether you have to give it to us
Supplying your information through the enquiry form is entirely voluntary. If you choose not to, we simply have no way to reply to you — there is no other consequence. Once you are a client, some information (billing details, system access) is necessary for us to perform the contract, and we cannot deliver the service without it.
4. The law we rely on
No specific law requires us to collect your information. We process it because it is necessary to conclude or perform a contract with you (POPIA section 11(1)(b)), because you have consented by choosing to contact us (section 11(1)(a)), or because it is necessary for our legitimate interests in responding to enquiries and running our business (section 11(1)(f)). Where we hold information as a client's IT provider, we do so as an operator on that client's behalf and in accordance with our agreement with them.
5. Who else sees it
We do not sell, rent or trade personal information. We share it only with the service providers we need to run the business, and only to the extent required:
- Netlify — hosts this website and receives enquiry form submissions.
- Zoho Mail — provides our business email, so your enquiry lands in a Zoho mailbox.
- WhatsApp / Meta — if you choose to contact us via the WhatsApp button.
- Google Fonts — serves the typefaces this site uses; your browser requests them directly from Google, which receives your IP address in the process.
- Our accountant, bank and, where legally compelled, SARS or a court — for billing, tax and legal compliance.
6. Information sent outside South Africa
Several of the providers above operate outside South Africa, principally in the United States and the European Union. This means your information is transferred across borders. We rely on section 72 of POPIA: these providers are bound by their own contractual terms and privacy frameworks that provide a level of protection substantially similar to POPIA, or the transfer is necessary to perform a contract with you or in your interest. If you would prefer not to have your details processed this way, contact us by phone on +27 71 839 7615 instead of using the form.
7. How long we keep it
- Enquiries that do not become clients: up to 12 months, then deleted.
- Client records: for the duration of our engagement and for 5 years after it ends, which is the retention period required by South African tax and company law.
- Invoices and financial records: 5 years, as required by the Tax Administration Act and the Companies Act.
- Website server logs: as retained by our hosting provider, typically a matter of weeks.
- Raw security assessment data: deleted once the report has been delivered and any agreed remediation is complete. The report itself is kept for the duration of our engagement and for 5 years afterwards, with the client records above.
8. How we protect it
We are an IT security business, and we apply to ourselves what we recommend to clients. This website is served only over encrypted HTTPS. Our email and business accounts are protected with multi-factor authentication and strong, unique passwords held in a password manager. Access to client systems and records is limited to the people who need it. Devices are encrypted and kept patched. We do not process or store card or banking credentials on this website.
Should a security compromise affect your personal information, we will notify you and the Information Regulator as soon as reasonably possible, as section 22 of POPIA requires.
9. Cookies and website analytics
This website sets no cookies of its own and runs no analytics, advertising or cross-site tracking. There is nothing to opt out of and no consent banner, because there is nothing to consent to. The only third-party request your browser makes is to Google Fonts for typefaces. If we add analytics in future, we will update this policy and, where required, ask for your consent first.
10. Marketing emails
We do not add enquirers to a mailing list. If we ever send marketing communications, we will do so only where you have consented or where you are an existing client and the message concerns our own similar services, as section 69 of POPIA requires. Every such message will identify us and give you a simple way to tell us to stop. You can opt out at any time by replying or emailing info@stellenbyte.co.za, at no cost to you.
11. Your rights
Under POPIA you have the right to:
- ask what personal information we hold about you, and be given a copy;
- ask us to correct or complete information that is wrong or out of date;
- ask us to delete information we no longer have grounds to keep;
- object, on reasonable grounds, to us processing your information;
- withdraw consent at any time, without affecting anything done before you withdrew it;
- not be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing — we make none;
- complain to the Information Regulator.
To exercise any of these, email info@stellenbyte.co.za. We will respond within 30 days. Requests for access are made on the prescribed form set out in our PAIA manual. We do not charge for correcting or deleting information; a prescribed fee may apply to a formal access request.
12. How to complain
Please raise it with us first — most issues are a misunderstanding we can fix the same day. If you are not satisfied, you may complain directly to:
| Body | Information Regulator (South Africa) |
| Address | JD House, 27 Stiemens Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2001 |
| Complaints email | complaints.IR@inforegulator.org.za |
| General email | enquiries@inforegulator.org.za |
| Telephone | 010 023 5200 |
| Website | inforegulator.org.za |
Changes to this policy
If we change how we handle personal information we will update this page and change the date at the top. Material changes affecting existing clients will be communicated by email.