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Postmark and EU flags

EU Data Protection

We value your trust and work hard to protect your information

Summary

When you use our services you entrust us with your valuable information. We have made it a priority to protect your data and to provide you with choices about controlling it. We understand that there are particular concerns from companies in the EU about how we use and protect your data, so we put this page together as a guide to answer some of the most common questions you may have.

  • The Security and Privacy page provides an overview of our data center and app security, as well as our data retention policy.
  • The GDPR page provides detailed information about how we have prepared our services for the GDPR.
  • The DPA page provides an executable copy of our Data Processing Addendum with our customers.
  • The Sub-processors page provides a list of our sub-processors under GDPR, and a way for you to get notified if/when we add a new sub-processor.

Security and Privacy

For detailed information about our security and privacy practices, you can view our privacy policy and data processing addendum. Below are some highlights.

Data centers and security measures

Data centers

Postmark's primary data and servers are hosted at Deft's data center (located outside of Chicago), and Amazon Web Services (AWS). We currently don't have plans to add servers in the EU (GDPR does not require physical servers in the EU).

Deft details

A DuPont Fabros facility, the Deft data center is SOC 2 Type 2 accredited and includes keycard protocols, biometric scanning protocols and round-the-clock surveillance. Our environment is colocated, meaning we have full control of the physical environment and only our policies affect the access and use of the hardware, network and software. We provide multiple levels of backups and redundancy to ensure uptime and peace of mind. Data transferred from our customers to our servers is encrypted via SSL that is configured to meet or exceed all industry standards. Cold data at rest is encrypted with 2048-bit RSA.

Even though Postmark itself has not undergone a SOC audit, our data center has. We can provide a copy of the SOC report for the data center after completing an NDA.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) details

The Amazon Web Services infrastructure puts strong safeguards in place to help protect customer privacy. All data is stored in highly secure AWS data centers. For a detailed overview of all security and privacy measures, see the AWS Cloud Security page. For a list of all current security accreditations, see the AWS Compliance Programs page.

Additional security measures

  • Data center security: The data centers we use demonstrate ongoing compliance with rigorous international standards, such as ISO 27017 for cloud security, ISO 27018 for cloud privacy, SOC 1, SOC 2, and SOC 3, PCI DSS Level 1, and more.
  • Access control: We restrict access to personal data only to our employees, contractors, and agents who need to know this information in order to operate, develop, or improve our service. Only a select few have access to the servers where data is stored. We go to great lengths to ensure the right balance between support and secure infrastructure. Employees can only access accounts if they have explicit permission from an account owner or the account is in review for compliance with the Postmark Terms of Use.
  • Confidentiality agreements: Employees, contractors, and agents are bound by confidentiality obligations and may be subject to discipline, including termination and criminal prosecution if they fail to meet these obligations.
  • App security: All access to the Postmark interface is secured over SSL (HTTPS), ensuring the information is encrypted. Our SSL configurations are regularly and automatically scanned to ensure we can quickly remediate any vulnerabilities discovered, such as Heartbleed. Additionally, we provide both TLS and HTTPS connections to the Postmark SMTP and API services, ensuring emails sent to the service are encrypted. Account passwords are encrypted in the Postmark database, preventing even our own staff from viewing them. We offer a method to recycle API keys at anytime in the Postmark interface.
  • Fully redundant servers for the API, SMTP, Inbound and Web interface.
  • Secure protocols (SSL / TLS) across the web, API, and SMTP endpoints.
  • Separately hosted Help system and Public site.
  • 256-bit SSL encryption on the web app and payment processing.
  • All passwords are stored using one-way cryptographic hashing functions.
  • We run a dedicated environment behind redundant firewalls and switches.
  • Hardened, patched OS with frequent security updates.
  • External monitoring and audits by highly respected security firms.

For even more detailed information about our security practices, you can review this help doc.

Data retention

As described on our feature pages, Postmark collects and retains content and metadata for all emails for 45 days to give customers the ability to access their full message history during that time.

After 45 days, original email content and metadata are removed from our system. Bounces, spam complaints and unsubscribed recipients are stored indefinitely in a Streams Suppression list for reporting and list hygiene.


EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

What is GDPR?

In 2016, the European Commission approved and adopted the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). GDPR is a significant change in data protection regulation in the EU and replaces the existing legal framework (the Data Protection Directive and the various member state laws). It came into effect on May 25, 2018.

Why is GDPR important?

GDPR adds some new requirements regarding how companies should protect individuals' data that they process. It also raises the stakes for compliance by increasing enforcement and imposing greater fines for breaches.

What has Postmark done to comply with GDPR?

We have implemented changes and our commitment to your privacy continues

Our compliance, data protection, and information security teams work hard to align our services with GDPR. In our role as the Data Processor of your customer and end user information, we have provided a Data Processing Agreement, meeting with the requirements of GDPR. You can find it here.

We have worked hard to meet our obligations as a processor under Article 28 of GDPR. To this end:

  • We continue to process your customer and end user data per your instructions.
  • We have implemented appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect the data with which you entrust us. You can view a detailed description of our security controls in ANNEX II of our DPA.
  • We have provided a list of our sub-processors and will give you the opportunity to object if we engage a new one. You can access this list here.
  • We have instituted a policy informing and obligating our employees to maintain the confidentiality of your information.
  • We have instituted a procedure to assist you in complying with requests for access, amendment or deletion that you may get from your customers or end users. See the "How do you manage access to my information (DSR requests)?" on this page.
  • We are able to inform you without delay in the event of a data breach (though we, and our sub-processors are working hard so that won't be needed).
  • We will delete your customer/end user information at the end of our agreement with you, if you ask us.

We have also updated our terms of service and privacy policy to provide greater transparency about our practices and help you pass that forward to your customers and end-users.

As guidance about specific aspects of GDPR continues to be published, we will also continue our efforts to fine-tune and improve our compliance.

We have addressed cross border data transfers

Like the Data Protection Directive that preceded it, GDPR includes provisions on international data transfer mechanisms. In order to comply with these provisions, we have worked with legal counsel to create a standard Data Processing Addendum (DPA), which meets with GDPR requirements for agreements between Data Controllers (you) and Data Processors (us).

Our DPA includes the new Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) for cross border transfers. It also outlines in detail our current security practices. To receive and sign a copy of our DPA, please visit the Data Processing Addendum tab on this page.

For our full response to the Schrems II Judgment (Privacy Shield invalidation), you can view this blog post.

Does GDPR require that my information be stored in the EU?

No. Under GDPR a company is allowed to transfer personal data outside of the EU provided that it puts in place a mechanism, approved under GDPR, to make sure that personal data is adequately protected even when it is transferred outside of the EU. We offer a Data Processing Addendum (DPA) with updated Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) to all customers.

How do you manage access to my information (DSR requests)?

If you have an account with us, you may access, correct, or request that we delete your personal data by contacting us at support@postmarkapp.com.

This request can include personal data of other individuals, like your employees or customers that you have provided to us and who have requested this of you. We will respond to these requests within 14 days or less, which is well within the GDPR requirement of 30 days.

Automate data removal requests

If you’re looking to process data removal requests (also “the right to be forgotten”), you have two options to automate this process:

  1. Ensure your client data is secure and automatically deleted upon request with our Data Removal API. With this endpoint, you can easily erase recipient data from a specific account and review the status of your data removal requests. Since this endpoint erases data, we have it turned off by default - reach out to us in support and we can enable it for your account.

  2. Simplify this process even further by purchasing the Retention Add-On and deciding how long Postmark keeps your data. By default, Postmark stores message content and activity data for 45 days, but with this add-on, you can decrease your data retention and make sure Postmark will purge all customer data after 7 or 28 days. This is a great option for all senders who frequently deal with DSR requests under GDPR and want to put compliance on auto-pilot.

What happens when the UK leaves the EU?

We chose the UK as a reasonable location for GDPR enforcement. The UK is hoping for a unique status under GDPR and are working towards it. For the time being the UK has declared it will be GDPR compliant and its new data protection bill is in line with GDPR.

We are here for you

We are happy to answer any questions and address any concerns regarding how we protect your personal data in general, as well as specifically under GDPR. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at privacy@activecampaign.com.

Data Processing Addendum

Please note that as of September 27, 2021, our updated Terms of Service incorporate our DPA with new SCCs. It is therefore no longer necessary to obtain a signed copy of our DPA. However, if your organization requires it, we do offer the ability to sign a copy of our DPA here.

To ensure no inconsistent or additional terms are imposed on us beyond that reflected in our standard DPA and standard contractual clauses, we cannot agree to sign customers’ DPAs. As a small team we also can’t make individual changes to our DPA since we don't have a legal team on staff. Any changes to the standard DPA would require legal counsel and a lot of back and forth discussion that would be cost prohibitive for our team.

Once you complete this form, the addendum will be signed electronically by both parties and a signed copy will be emailed to you. Drop us a line if you have any questions.

We’ll never use this email for marketing purposes.


List of sub-processors

We share certain information with companies that may be considered our "sub-processors" under GDPR. This information is limited to the following:

  • We use Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Deft (formerly known as ServerCentral) to process our emails. These companies host the data on physical and cloud servers that we pay for. For more information about our security practices as it relates to our data centers, see this help article.
  • We use HelpScout as help desk software to communicate with our customers. Although HelpScout isn't a sub-processor used to deliver our services, sometimes these communications includes the personal data of your customers' information, so we've added them here for transparency.

Below is a full list of our sub-processors.

CompanyPurpose
Deft (formerly known as ServerCentral)Infrastructure hosting
Amazon Web ServicesCloud infrastructure hosting

Sub-processor updates

If you would like to be notified when we start working with a new company that may be considered a "sub-processor", you can sign up below. We will only use your email to send notifications about new sub-processors.