Cookie Policy

Cookies are small text files that a website asks your browser to store on your device. When you return to a site, your browser sends those files back, allowing the site to recognise your device, keep you secure, or remember certain settings. Cookies may be "session" cookies (deleted when you close your browser) or "persistent" cookies (which remain for a defined period or until you delete them).

Cookies set by the website you are visiting are described as "first-party" cookies; those set by another domain are "third-party" cookies. Cookies are also commonly categorised by purpose, for example strictly-necessary, functional, analytics/performance, and advertising/targeting cookies.

"Similar technologies" include browser storage mechanisms such as local storage and session storage. These are not cookies, but they perform a related function: they allow a website to store small pieces of information in your browser. Session storage in particular holds data only for the duration of the current browser tab and is automatically cleared when that tab is closed. Unlike cookies, browser storage is not transmitted back to a server with every request.

This is a marketing website for a B2B cybersecurity and software-development consultancy. It has no user accounts and no payments. We use cookies and similar technologies in three groups:

• Strictly necessary — security, form protection and remembering your cookie choice. These are always on, because the site and its forms cannot work safely without them.
• Analytics — Google Analytics 4 and Microsoft Clarity, to understand which pages are useful and how visitors move through the site. Used only with your consent.
• Advertising measurement — the Google Ads tag, to measure whether our advertising leads to enquiries. Used only with your consent. We do not sell your data or show third-party advertising on this site.

When you first visit, non-essential cookies are off. They are switched on only if you click "Accept" in the cookie banner. If you click "Reject", or make no choice, they stay off.

The list below describes each item, its purpose, how long it lasts and its category. Names set by third-party services may change over time as those providers update their systems.

Strictly necessary (always on)

• __cf_bm — Cloudflare. Distinguishes people from bots and manages bot traffic to protect the site and our forms. 30 minutes.
• cf_clearance — Cloudflare. Records that your browser has passed a security check so it is not repeatedly challenged. Up to 1 year.
• Cloudflare Turnstile — the privacy-friendly CAPTCHA on our "Contact", "Get a Quote" and newsletter forms. It may set or read limited cookies and storage values to run its security check.
• pl-consent — browser local storage. Remembers whether you accepted or rejected analytics cookies, so we do not ask again on every page. Kept until you change it or clear your browser data.
• pledger-launch-seen:<id> (local storage) and blog-endbar-dismissed (session storage) — remember that you closed an announcement or the end-of-article bar, so it is not shown again.

Analytics (only with your consent)

• _ga — Google Analytics 4. Distinguishes visitors. 2 years.
• _ga_<property id> — Google Analytics 4. Keeps session state. 2 years.
• _clck — Microsoft Clarity. Stores a visitor identifier. 1 year.
• _clsk — Microsoft Clarity. Groups page views into a single session. 1 day.
• MUID — Microsoft. Identifies unique browsers visiting Microsoft services; set on Microsoft's own domain. 1 year.

Advertising measurement (only with your consent)

• _gcl_au — Google Ads. Links an advertising click to an enquiry made on our site (conversion measurement). 90 days.
• Google may also set cookies on its own domains (for example google.com and doubleclick.net) when the Google Ads tag runs, to measure ad performance. These are governed by Google's own policies.

Campaign source (only with your consent)

• pl-attribution — browser local storage. Remembers which campaign or website brought you to our site (for example utm_source or an ad click identifier such as gclid), so that when you send us an enquiry we know which of our marketing worked. 90 days. Without your consent this is kept only in memory for the page you are on and is not saved on your device.

We use Google Consent Mode. Before you make a choice, and if you reject analytics cookies, Google's tags are told that consent has been denied: they do not set or read cookies, and may send only limited, cookieless signals (such as the fact that a page was viewed) that do not identify you. Google may use these signals to model aggregate statistics. If you accept, the tags work normally and set the cookies listed above.

Microsoft Clarity receives the same signal through its consent setting and only sets its cookies after you accept.

In the UK, the use of cookies and similar technologies is governed by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR), read alongside the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

PECR requires consent before storing or accessing information on your device, except where it is strictly necessary to provide a service you have requested. The strictly-necessary items above fall within that exemption. For analytics, advertising measurement and campaign-source storage we rely on your consent, which you give or refuse in the cookie banner. Refusing is as easy as accepting, and refusing does not limit your use of the site.

You can change your choice at any time: click "Cookie settings" in the footer of any page to open the cookie banner again and accept or reject. If you withdraw consent, we stop the tools and delete the campaign-source value we stored; cookies already set by Google or Microsoft can be removed through your browser settings.

You can also control and delete cookies through your browser settings. Browser providers publish detailed instructions, for example for Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari and Microsoft Edge. Google also offers an opt-out browser add-on for Google Analytics.

Blocking the strictly-necessary Cloudflare cookies or Cloudflare Turnstile may stop our forms from working. If that happens, you can contact us by email at info@pyramidledger.com.

Some of the technologies described here, such as Cloudflare's security processing, involve limited technical data, for example your IP address and request logs, which Cloudflare processes for security and delivery purposes. The personal data you actively provide is collected through our "Contact" and "Get a Quote" forms and, if you subscribe, our blog newsletter; form submissions are delivered to us by email using Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), which also holds the newsletter list. If you accept analytics cookies, Google and Microsoft process usage data as described above.

For full details of what personal data we collect, the lawful bases on which we rely, our processors and recipients (including Cloudflare, Inc., Brevo, Google and Microsoft), international transfers and the safeguards that apply (such as UK adequacy regulations, the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK Addendum to the EU Standard Contractual Clauses), and your rights under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, please see our Privacy Policy.

We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time to reflect changes in the technologies we use or in legal requirements. If we add a new non-essential technology, we will update this page first and it will be covered by the consent you give or refuse in the cookie banner.

We encourage you to review this policy periodically. The version published on this page is the current version and applies to your use of the site.

If you have any questions about this Cookie Policy or about how we use cookies and similar technologies, you can contact us:

• By email: info@pyramidledger.com
• By post: Pyramid Ledger Ltd, EC1V 2NX, London, United Kingdom
• By telephone: +44 (0) 20 4584 2944

If you have a concern about how we handle your personal data, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority, at ico.org.uk. We would, however, appreciate the opportunity to address your concerns directly before you approach the ICO.