Updated: August 2024
Overview
Rimkus Consulting Group, Inc. and our affiliates (“Rimkus”) respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it.
The Rimkus website is hosted in the United States. Information from the website, including any information that you may provide in the forms, will be transferred to and processed in the US. Information from the forms will be assigned to appropriate business groups in our global organization.
Rimkus Consulting Group, Inc. and our affiliates (“Rimkus”) respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it.
This Privacy Notice (or “Notice”) explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect information that we collect about you, and your rights with respect to that information.
This notice covers information we collect from or about you when you give it to us or visit our website (https://www.rimkus.com). It also covers information that we may receive from other persons or companies who have received your information and shared it with us pursuant to our services.
Unless specifically stated, we do not sell or share Personal Information to Third Parties for their own use. However, we may share or process one or more of the above categories of personal information with our affiliates and trusted partners in arrangements for purposes of targeted advertising, as the terms “sell,” “share,” “process,” and “targeted advertising” are defined in the CPA, VCDPA, UCPA, and CTDPA. In these arrangements, use of the information we share is limited by policies, contracts or similar restrictions.
If in any matter our privacy practices differ from those explained in this Notice, we will let you know at the time we ask for or collect your information.
Children’s online privacy
Our website is not intended for children under 16 years of age. No one under the age 16 may provide any information to or on the website. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 16. If you are under 16, do not use or provide any information on this website. If we learn we have collected or received personal information from a child under 16 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 16, please contact us at [email protected].
What information we collect
Our intention is to limit our personal information/personal data collection to only what is needed to perform our assignments and related business. The quantity and scope of that information varies by the type of assignment being undertaken. Accordingly, personal information/personal data collected or received may include but not be limited to:
General identification and contact information, such as your name, address, e-mail, telephone number, and IP information.
In the course of processing job applications for employment at Rimkus we receive identification numbers issued by federal or state governments including, but not limited to, Social Security number and driver’s license number, and sometimes we also receive this information in the course of rendering services to Rimkus’s clients.
Any information you provide us via correspondence, including but not limited to e-mail, voicemail, and recordings of telephone calls to our staff and offices.
For clients receiving Rimkus’s services, we receive payment information. We also receive business information which may use in the promotion of our business services or for further client relationships.
Pursuant to rendering certain services to Rimkus’s clients, we may occasionally receive information about an individual’s current or former physical, mental, or medical condition, health status, injury or disability, or medications consumed.
Information from Rimkus’s subsidiaries including assignment specifics which contain information including names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, and may contain health information.
Information from Rimkus’s clients regarding assignments we undertake for them and through which the personal information is provided for our use in rendering services.
Technical information from website visitors, including internet protocol (IP) address, login information (username/password), browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access our website.
Some of the information we collect about you may be personal information or personal data, which can be used to identify you including, for example, your name, email address, mailing address, or delivery address. In some jurisdictions, certain unique identifiers like IP addresses and other usage or technical information may be considered personal information.
We may fully remove personal information from data (anonymous data), which we may use for any purpose.
How we collect your information
We collect information from and about you in the following ways:
When you provide it to us. You may give us information about you by filling in forms or by communicating with us by email, in the course of our work on a project, in person, or otherwise.
From our websites and emails. As you interact with our website or emails, we may automatically collect technical information about your equipment, browsing actions, and patterns. We collect this information by using cookies, server logs, web beacons, and other similar technologies. Our Cookies and automatic data collection technologies section contains more information and options to control or opt out of certain data collection or uses.
From others. We may receive information about you from third parties including, for example, our clients (with whom you may have a contractual or other relationship), our affiliated companies, business partners, subcontractors, analytics providers, and service providers.
Cookies and automatic data collection technologies
Our website uses automatic data collection technologies to distinguish you from other website users. This helps us deliver a better and more personalized service when you browse our website. It also allows us to improve our website by enabling us to:
Estimate our audience size and usage patterns.
Store your preferences so we may customize our website according to your individual interests.
Speed up your searches.
Recognize you when you return to our website.
We also may use these technologies to collect information about your online activities over time and across third-party websites or other online services (behavioral tracking). For more information, see Interest-based advertising.
The technologies we use for this automatic data collection may include:
Cookies (or browser cookies). A cookie is a small file placed on the hard drive of your computer. For information about managing browser settings to refuse cookies, see Your rights and choices section.
Flash Cookies. Certain features of our website may use Flash cookies (local stored objects) instead of browser cookies to collect and store information about your preferences and navigation to, from, and on the website. For information about managing Flash cookies see Your rights and choices.
Web Beacons. Our website pages, advertisements, and e-mails may contain small transparent embedded images or objects known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags, and single-pixel gifs) that permit us, for example, to count website page visitors or email readers, or to compile other similar statistics such as recording website content popularity or verifying system and server integrity. For information about managing web beacons, see Your rights and choices.
We may use Google Analytics to provide certain analytics services for us. More information about Google Analytics can be found in the Google Analytics Terms of Use and the Google Analytics Privacy Policy.
We do not respond to or honor “do not track” (a/k/a DNT) signals or similar mechanisms transmitted by web browsers.
How we use your information
We may use your information to conduct our business operations including for the following purposes:
To render services or execute transactions, such as providing information about our business to you, processing orders for services, and providing services.
To create and manage your account.
To provide you with the information or support that you request from us.
To improve our website, services, marketing, customer relationships, and experiences.
To develop new services.
To manage our relationship with you which may include notifying you about changes to our Privacy Notice or addressing any concerns you may have about our services.
To manage the process of hiring and retaining new employees.
To provide you with the information, services, or support that you request from us or to fulfill any other purpose for which you provide it.
To deliver relevant content, advertisements, and messaging to you and to measure or understand the effectiveness of such content, advertisements, and messaging.
To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights and to protect our website, clients, and other individuals including protecting against or identifying possible fraudulent transactions.
With your permission, we may use your information to inform you of services available from Rimkus. We will provide you with the opportunity to opt out of receiving such communications.
For any other purpose as may be permitted by law.
We may use information that is not personal information for any purpose. For example, we may aggregate usage data from many people in a way that does not identify any individuals to calculate the percentage of users accessing a feature on the website.
Disclosure of Your Information
We may share non-personal information without restriction. We may share your personal information with:
Any member of our family of companies globally, which means includes parent companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, and related entities.
To contractors, service providers, and other third parties we use to support our business and who are bound by contractual obligations to keep personal information confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them.
To our business partners who provide services on our behalf.
To public or government (including enforcement) authorities.
To an actual or prospective buyer or other successors in the event of a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, where one of the transferred assets is the personal information we hold.
To fulfill the purpose for which you provide it.
For any other purpose as may be permitted by law or that we describe when you provide the information.
We may also disclose your personal information:
As part of services provided to our clients, but only to the extent necessary to meet the scope of services.
To comply with any court order, law, or legal process, including responding to any government or regulatory request.
To enforce our agreements with you.
To protect the rights, property, or safety of our business, our employees, our clients, or others. This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for the purposes of cybersecurity, fraud protection, and credit risk reduction.
To investigate suspected violations of any law, rule, or regulation, or the terms or policies for our website.
Third Party Content, Apps, and Links
Some content or applications on our websites may be served by third parties, content providers, and application providers including the following:
Plugins
Our website makes available the option for you to use “plugins” that are operated by social media companies. If you choose to use one of these plugins, then it may collect information about you and send it back to the social media company that owns it. This may happen even if you do not click on the plugin if you are logged into the social media website that owns the plugin when you visit our website. Information collected by a plugin is subject to the privacy policy and terms of the social media company that makes it. If you do not want the social media company that owns a plugin to collect information about you when you visit our website, sign out of the social media network before visiting. By interacting with a plugin when you are on our website (for example, clicking the Facebook “Like” button), you are intentionally transferring information to that social media company. Further, if you are logged into a social media website when you visit our websites, then you are directing us to share your data with the social media company that owns the plugin.
Third-party links
Our website may contain links to other sites, which we do not control. Those websites have their own privacy policies and terms.
Your Rights and Choices
Your rights may vary depending on where you are located. We have created mechanisms to provide you with the following control over your information.
Marketing. With your permission, we may use your information to inform you of services available from Rimkus. We will provide you with the opportunity to opt out of receiving such communications.
Accessing, Updating, and Deleting Your Information. If you are a current client and have registered to use our Client Portal, you may have the ability to access your information and make updates to or delete your data. If not, you can contact us as set forth in the Contact Us section below to request access to, correction of, or deletion of personal information that you have provided to us. We may not accommodate a request to change information if we believe the change would violate any law or legal requirement or negatively affect the information’s accuracy.
Cookies and Automatic Data Collection Technologies. You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies or to alert you when websites set or access cookies. Flash cookies are not managed by the same browser settings as are used for browser cookies. To learn how you can manage your Flash cookie settings, visit the Flash player settings page on Adobe’s website. However, if you disable or refuse cookies, please note that some parts of this website may become inaccessible or not function properly. If you do not want Google Analytics to be used in your browser, Google Analytics provides an opt-out tool which can be found here. In some cases, you may be able to set your browser or email program to not download web beacons.
We respect the rights of data subjects and comply with applicable laws and regulations.
Data subjects have the right, at any time, to request access to, rectification or erasure of his/her personal data, or restriction or objection to processing, as well as the right to data portability, or to withdraw the consent given by addressing a written communication to: Privacy Counsel, Rimkus Consulting Group, Inc., 12140 Wickchester Lane, Suite 300, Houston, Texas 77079, or by sending an e-mail to: [email protected] to the attention of the privacy officer. We will request information to identify your identity to protect your rights and the rights of other data subjects.
Rimkus reserves the right to verify the truthfulness of personal data provided at any time.
Rimkus does not use any type of automated process for profiling purposes.
Lawful basis
We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we will use your personal data in the following circumstances:
Where we need to perform the contract, we are about to enter into or have entered into with you or services performed on your behalf.
Where it is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party) and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests, potentially including uses such as determining the success of our services and for determining marketing performance to share relevant information and offers about our products with clients and potential clients.
Where we need to comply with a legal obligation.
Generally, we do not rely on consent as a legal basis for processing your personal data although we may get your consent before sending third-party direct marketing communications to you or for your participation in research studies. You have the right to withdraw consent to marketing at any time by contacting us.
Global Privacy Rights
We endeavor to minimize the processing of personal data.
The data controller of information entered onto our website is Rimkus Consulting Group, Inc.
In certain circumstances, Rimkus is a co-data controller or processor of data with its clients in its business relationships.
Although we do not intend to collect any special categories of personal data about you without your direct knowledge, it is possible that our clients may share health or criminal offense/conviction information with us in a specific assignment. For example, health information about an individual injured in an auto accident, and information as to any accompanying police investigations and citations, may be received by us from our client pursuant to our services in a biomechanical engineering assignment or toxicology assignment. You may also provide information directly as a voluntary data subject.
Data Security
We have implemented measures designed to secure your personal information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure. To ensure that our data handling and general security practices meet the highest standard, we have achieved ISO 27001 certification.
The safety and security of your information also depend on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our website, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.
Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of your personal information transmitted to our website. Any transmission of personal information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the website.
Data retention
We will only retain your personal data for as long as reasonably necessary to fulfill the purposes we collected it for, including the purposes of satisfying any legal, regulatory, tax, accounting, or reporting requirements. We may retain your personal data for a longer period in the event of a complaint or if we reasonably believe there is a prospect of litigation with respect to our relationship with you.
To determine the appropriate retention period for personal information, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data, and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal, regulatory, tax, accounting or other requirements. In any event, we do not intend to hold the data for more than 10 years.
Except as otherwise permitted or required by applicable law or regulation, we will only retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which we collected it, and/or for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. Under some circumstances, we may anonymize your personal information so that it can no longer be associated with you, either directly or indirectly, alone or in combination with any other information. We reserve the right to use such anonymous and de-identified data for any legitimate business purpose without further notice to you or your consent.
Transfer of Data
Your personal data may be transferred to — and maintained on — computers located outside of your state, province, country, or other governmental jurisdiction where the data protection laws may differ from those in your jurisdiction.
If you are located outside of the United States and choose to provide information to us, please note that we may transfer the data, including personal information, to the United States and process it there. We use cloud-based servers for our data. Our international offices are geolocated, however, certain information may be transferred among our global organization, subject to internal controls.
Your submission of information through this website Rimkus represents your agreement to transfer of your data to the United States. Your business relationship with Rimkus may include transfer of certain data by and among the global offices for business purposes.
Rimkus will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Notice and no transfer of your personal information will take place to an organization or a country unless there are adequate controls in place including the security of your data and other personal information.
Changes to our Privacy Notice
We will post any changes we may make to our Privacy Notice on this page. The date the Privacy Notice was last revised is identified at the top of the page. You are responsible for periodically visiting this page to check for any changes.
Accessing and correcting your personal information
By law, you have the right to request access to and to correct or rectify the personal information that we hold about you, subject to certain exceptions as required or permitted by applicable law.
You can review and change your personal information by logging into the Client Portal and visiting the pages that correspond to the information you want to review and change.
If you want to access, review, verify, correct, rectify, update, or withdraw consent to the collection, use, or disclosure of your personal information you may also contact us as directed in the Contact Us section of this Notice to make such a request.
We may not accommodate a request to change information if we believe the change would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect.
We may request specific information from you to help us confirm your identity and your right to access and to provide you with the personal information that we hold about you or make your requested changes. Applicable law may allow or require us to refuse to provide you with access to some or all the personal information that we hold about you, or we may have destroyed, erased, or made your personal information anonymous in accordance with our record retention obligations and practices. If we cannot provide you with access to your personal information, we will inform you of the reasons, subject to any legal or regulatory restrictions.
We will provide access to your personal information, subject to exceptions set out in applicable privacy legislation. Examples of such exceptions may include (without limitation):
Information is protected by solicitor or attorney-client privilege.
Information that is part of a formal dispute resolution process.
Information that would reveal the personal information or confidential commercial information of another person.
Information that is prohibitively expensive to provide.
If you are concerned about our response or would like to correct the information provided, you may contact us as described in the Contact Us section of this Privacy Notice.
Contact Us
If you have any comments or questions about our Privacy Notice, please reach out to our Privacy Counsel at [email protected].
You may also write to:
Attention: Privacy Counsel
Rimkus Consulting Group, Inc.
12140 Wickchester Lane, Suite 300
Houston, TX 77079