How your information is kept safe

A WorkZerk link often asks for things you would not hand to just anyone: a tax file number, bank details, a passport, an insurance certificate. This covers how those are protected once you send them, and what someone could and could not do if your link ended up in the wrong hands.

Your files travel one way only

This is the part that matters most for a link that arrives by email or text message.

Once you upload a file, your link cannot be used to open or download it again. Your page shows the file's name, its size, and whether it has been received, approved or rejected. It does not show a preview, and the name is not a link. There is no address on your page that serves the file back.

So if someone else gets hold of your link, because an email was forwarded or a phone was left unlocked, they cannot use it to collect your passport scan or your insurance certificate. The documents go to the company that asked for them, and only people signed in to that company's WorkZerk account can open them.

The same goes for private answers. A tax file number or bank account marked as sensitive shows on your page as dots with the last three characters, for example ••••• 782. To change it you type it again in full, because the box never fills in with the old value. See "Sensitive information" below.

There is one exception. If you signed a PDF on your page, you can download your signed copy of it, since it is your record of what you agreed to. That covers only the signed document, never a file you uploaded.

What someone with your link could do

A link does not need a password, which is why it is quick to open. That also means anyone holding it can open your page. What they could do there:

• see your name and the questions the company asked
• see the answers you gave, except sensitive ones, which stay masked
• see the names of files you uploaded, but not open them
• upload a file or change an answer in your name

If you think your link has been shared with someone it should not have been, tell the company that sent it. They can switch the old link off and send you a new one, and the old one stops working straight away.

Treat the link like a key: keep it in your own email or your own bookmarks, and do not post it in a group chat.

Encryption while it travels

Every page and every upload goes over an encrypted connection (HTTPS, the padlock in your browser's address bar). A plain, unencrypted connection is switched to an encrypted one before anything is sent, so nothing you type or upload crosses the internet readable along the way. This applies on café Wi-Fi and mobile data alike.

Encryption where it is stored

WorkZerk runs on Microsoft Azure.

• Uploaded files are kept in Azure Blob Storage, which encrypts every file on disk (AES-256, the standard used by banks and governments). A stolen disk from the data centre would hold only scrambled data.
• Answers and details are kept in an Azure SQL database, which is also encrypted on disk.
• Backups are encrypted in the same way.

That protects against the physical storage being taken. The next section adds a second layer for the most private information.

Sensitive information

The company can mark a question or a document as Sensitive. They usually do this for tax forms, bank and super details, passports, proof of the right to work, and police checks. A sensitive answer or file gets extra protection on top of everything above:

• It is encrypted again, on its own. Before a sensitive answer is saved, WorkZerk encrypts that single value with a key kept in a separate storage account, never in the database. A copy of the database on its own only holds scrambled text for your sensitive answers. Each company's sensitive information is sealed with its own key, so one company's data cannot be read using another's.
• Files are checked, then encrypted. A sensitive file is checked for viruses first, which takes a few seconds, and is then encrypted in storage.
• Most of the company's team cannot see it. It is masked for everyone at the company except their admins. An admin has to click to view it, and a photo of a document is never shown as a thumbnail.
• Every view is recorded. Each time an admin views a sensitive answer or opens a sensitive file, WorkZerk records who did it, when, and from which IP address. The company can review that record at any time.
• An expiry date may be read automatically. When you upload a document with an expiry date, WorkZerk can use AI to read the date on the document and compare it with the date you entered, so the company can see when the two differ. A person at the company still decides whether to accept it. For a sensitive file, that read is recorded too, and the company can switch the check off.
• It stays out of emails. An email about your page says a sensitive answer was provided, but does not include it.
• Our support team never sees it, even when helping the company from inside their account.

This is not end-to-end encryption: WorkZerk decrypts a sensitive value when an admin at the company asks to see it, so that they can use it for payroll or compliance. Nobody without that access can read it.

Two-factor sign-in for the company

The people who review your documents sign in to WorkZerk with a password and a six-digit code from an authenticator app on their phone (two-factor authentication, or 2FA). A company cannot ask anyone for a document until 2FA is switched on for the account, and cannot switch it off while it holds uploaded documents.

So a stolen or guessed password is not enough to get at your files. Someone would also need that admin's phone.

How long your information is kept

The company that asked for your information decides how long it keeps it. Many businesses are required by law to keep payroll and tax records for several years. A company can choose to have WorkZerk delete sensitive answers and files automatically a set time after onboarding finishes. Once deleted, copies in our backups are gone within 35 days.

To ask what is kept about you, or to have something removed, contact the company that sent you the link. They control the information and can see exactly what they hold.

What you can do

• Keep your link to yourself. Save it in your own bookmarks rather than a shared device. See Saving your portal link.
• Check the address. Your link starts with https://app.workzerk.com/ and your browser shows the padlock. If a message asks you to "log in" with a password to see your documents, it is not from WorkZerk: your link never needs one.
• Use your own device if you can. On a shared computer, close the browser when you finish.
• Tell the company if something looks wrong. If a link turns up that you did not expect, or an answer changes that you did not change, they can switch the link off and look at what happened.