---
title: 'Privacy'
description: 'How Panguard Threat Cloud anonymizes data, enforces zero telemetry, and supports full opt-out for air-gapped environments.'
icon: 'shield-check'
---

Privacy is a core design principle of Panguard Threat Cloud. All threat data is anonymized before leaving your machine, zero telemetry is collected, and the entire system can operate fully offline with a single configuration flag.

## Anonymization

### IP Address Masking

All IP addresses are /16-anonymized before submission. The last two octets are zeroed:

| Original IP    | Anonymized IP |
| -------------- | ------------- |
| `192.168.1.50` | `192.168.0.0` |
| `10.0.42.100`  | `10.0.0.0`    |
| `203.0.113.50` | `203.0.0.0`   |

This preserves network-level information needed for threat intelligence while making it impossible to identify specific hosts.

### What Is Shared

| Data                      | Shared | Anonymization                            |
| ------------------------- | ------ | ---------------------------------------- |
| Attacker source IP        | Yes    | /16 masked (last two octets zeroed)      |
| Attack type and technique | Yes    | Already generic, no anonymization needed |
| MITRE ATT&CK IDs          | Yes    | Public taxonomy, no anonymization needed |
| Confidence score          | Yes    | No anonymization needed                  |
| File hashes (malware)     | Yes    | Hash only, no file content               |
| Timestamps                | Yes    | Rounded to nearest hour                  |
| Tags and classification   | Yes    | Already generic                          |

### What Is Never Shared

| Data                       | Status                |
| -------------------------- | --------------------- |
| Your machine's IP address  | **Never transmitted** |
| Hostnames or machine IDs   | **Never transmitted** |
| Internal IP addresses      | **Never transmitted** |
| File contents              | **Never transmitted** |
| Log entries or raw events  | **Never transmitted** |
| User credentials           | **Never transmitted** |
| Configuration details      | **Never transmitted** |
| Scan results               | **Never transmitted** |
| Usernames or account names | **Never transmitted** |

## Zero Telemetry

Panguard collects zero telemetry about your usage:

- No usage analytics
- No crash reports sent externally
- No feature tracking
- No license phone-home beyond initial activation
- No third-party analytics SDKs
- No browser fingerprinting
- No session recording

## Data Retention

| Setting         | Default              | Description                                            |
| --------------- | -------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| IoC retention   | 90 days              | Indicators older than 90 days are automatically purged |
| Submission logs | Local only           | Kept on your machine, never uploaded                   |
| Feed cache      | Refreshed every hour | Local cache of external feed data                      |

## Opt-Out (Offline Mode)

Threat Cloud sharing can be disabled entirely for air-gapped or privacy-sensitive environments:

```bash
# Disable Threat Cloud in Guard
panguard guard config --threat-cloud disabled

# Or set via environment variable
export PANGUARD_THREAT_CLOUD=disabled

```

When disabled:

- No data is submitted to any Threat Cloud instance (public or private)
- Guard continues to function with local detection only (ATR rules, baseline)
- Threat intelligence lookups use only the last-synced local feed cache
- No network connections are made to Threat Cloud endpoints
- All other features remain fully operational

<Info>
  Offline mode reduces detection capability since you lose access to collective threat intelligence.
  Consider running a private Threat Cloud instance within your network as a middle ground between
  full sharing and complete isolation.
</Info>

## Audit Logging

All data submissions to Threat Cloud are logged locally for audit purposes:

```bash
# View submission log
cat ~/.panguard/threat-cloud/submissions.log
```

Each log entry records:

| Field       | Description                             |
| ----------- | --------------------------------------- |
| `timestamp` | When the submission was made            |
| `data`      | The exact anonymized data that was sent |
| `endpoint`  | Threat Cloud URL that received the data |
| `status`    | HTTP response status                    |

This allows you to verify exactly what data left your machine at any point in time.

## Self-Hosted Private Instance

For maximum privacy, run your own Threat Cloud instance:

```bash
# Start your private instance
panguard threat start --port 8080 --api-key your-key

# Point agents to your private instance
panguard guard start --threat-cloud http://your-private-server:8080
```

With a self-hosted instance:

- All threat data stays within your network
- You control retention, access, and deletion policies
- You still benefit from external feed synchronization (ThreatFox, URLhaus, etc.)
- Cross-agent correlation works across your fleet
- No data leaves your network perimeter

## GDPR Compliance

Panguard Threat Cloud is designed with GDPR principles:

| Principle                     | Implementation                                                           |
| ----------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **Data minimization**         | Only the minimum data needed for threat correlation is collected         |
| **Purpose limitation**        | Data is used exclusively for threat intelligence                         |
| **Storage limitation**        | Configurable retention periods (default: 90 days) with automatic purge   |
| **Right to erasure**          | Self-hosted instances have full control over data deletion               |
| **Data protection by design** | Anonymization is applied at the source, before any data leaves the agent |

<Tip>
  For organizations with strict data sovereignty requirements, combine a self-hosted Threat Cloud
  with disabled public sharing. This gives you collective intelligence within your organization
  without any data leaving your network.
</Tip>
