Security & Responsible Disclosure

1. Our approach

Security and privacy are designed in from the start. The desktop application processes datasets locally on your machine, disables usage-stat gathering, and keeps every feature that uses the internet — cloud AI, web search and the update check — switched off until you turn it on. See the Privacy Policy and Data Usage Policy for detail.

2. Practices

• Data minimisation — the app collects nothing; we avoid collecting what we do not need on this website.
• API keys you choose to save are stored in your operating system's secure credential store (Windows Credential Manager) — never in plain text and never in source code. If that store is unavailable, a key is used for the session only.
• Updates are digitally signed. The version file is verified with an Ed25519 signature, and a downloaded installer is rejected unless it matches the checksum inside that signed file.
• Licence keys are verified on your own computer, with nothing sent to us.
• Files that can run code are refused. ATARS will not open .pkl / .pickle files, because opening one runs whatever code it carries — important in an app built to be sent files by other people.
• Encrypted transport (HTTPS) for this website and the download; connections the app makes (your database, your AI provider, web search, the update check) use those services' secure protocols.
• The app's code ships compiled to machine code, and dependencies are kept reasonably current with a lean core to reduce surface area.
• The terminal edition ships no AI package at all — a stub occupies that import path, and a test fails the build if a provider import or a credential read ever reaches the published wheel. The boundary is enforced by the build, not by a policy.

3. Verifying what you installed

Each edition is authenticated differently, and it is worth knowing which applies to you.

• The Windows installer is not yet code-signed. Windows SmartScreen will therefore warn you — that is a reaction to an app it has not seen often, not a malware detection. Every release is published with a SHA-256 checksum on our GitHub releases page; compare it using Get-FileHash .\ATARS-Setup.exe -Algorithm SHA256 before running the installer if you want certainty.
• The Microsoft Store package is signed by Microsoft. The Store signs and delivers it, so there is no SmartScreen prompt and Windows verifies integrity itself. This is the strongest option, and the one to prefer if the warning concerns you.
• The terminal edition is served over HTTPS by PyPI, which verifies package hashes on install. Install it only as pip install atars — a package with a similar name is not ours.

We will publish a signed installer once code-signing is in place; until then the checksum and the Store build are the two ways to be sure.

4. Responsible disclosure

If you believe you have found a security vulnerability, we appreciate a private, responsible report. Please:

• Give us a reasonable time to investigate and fix before any public disclosure.
• Avoid privacy violations, data destruction, or service disruption while testing.
• Only test against your own installation and data — never another person's.
• Include clear steps to reproduce so we can act quickly.

Acting in good faith under these guidelines, we will not pursue action against you for your research, and we will credit you if you wish once the issue is resolved.

5. What is in scope

The ATARS application and this website. Out of scope: third-party services we link to, your own chosen AI provider, and issues that require physical access to your device.

6. How to report

Send details through the contact page and mark it as a security report. We aim to acknowledge valid reports promptly.

7. No warranty

We work hard on security, but no system is perfectly secure. Please handle sensitive data with appropriate care, as described in our Terms and Disclaimer.