As a professional translator, I meticulously follow security and confidentiality best practices. Here, you will find a list of measures I apply to every project I receive:
- Content protection: I take the necessary measures to prevent confidential project files and translated content from being accessed by unauthorized parties.
- Assumption of confidentiality: My assumption is that work-related files, content and communications are to remain strictly confidential. I never discuss confidential project content with unauthorized parties, friends, relatives, colleagues or others.
- No subcontracting: I do not outsource my projects to other translators. I may refer clients to professional translator colleagues or, for large projects, offer to lead a team of trusted freelance partners, but never without client authorization.
- No unauthorized sample sharing: I only share French translation samples from completed translations for clients who gave me their written permission.
- No ownership claims: I am willing to agree that completed French translations are the property of the client, and waive any personal rights thereof.
- No external translation memories: I agree not to use translation memories or machine translation systems that contain translated data, or that have been trained with bilingual data from other clients.
- Translation memory and glossary deletion: I am willing to destroy any translation memories and bilingual glossaries created specifically for a given project, upon request.
- No cloud/external services.: I am willing to agree not to use any cloud/online-based translation tools, optical character recognition (OCR) software or other such services for translators that involve disclosure of content to third-party systems.
- No translation memory sharing: I will never share a given client’s translation memory or translated data with other professionals and third parties.
- Reference material confidentiality: I do not share reference materials and would not use them on other client’s translation projects.
- Non-disclosure of localization processes, rates: I never discuss my clients’ processes, employee data, tools, rates of payment, or other such information.
- Data deletion: I delete project files upon completion of translation, and am willing to do so at anytime upon request.
- No paper copies: I do not create paper copies of received or translated works. I also agree to return or shred any physical materials received for a project upon request
- Encrypted file storage: I store project files (original and translated) only in encrypted form for extra security.
- Encrypted file transfer: I understand how to, and am willing to agree to send and receive project files in encrypted format.
- Dedicated project folder: I always keep separate file folders for separate clients.
- Backup: I make sure to keep backups of my translations while work is underway.
- Archiving: I am willing to keep copies of source/translated files after completion of work, upon request.
- No public spaces: I work exclusively from home on secure, wired network.
- Dedicated computer: I have a dedicated computer for translation work.
- Locked computer: My work computer is password protected.
- Sole user: I am the only person who uses my computer.
- Antivirus: My computer has up-to-date, licensed antivirus software to avoid file theft and data tempering.
- OS updates: Updates to my operating system are auto-installed.
- Anti-ransomware: I have an up-to-date, licensed anti-ramsomware program to protect source and translated documents.
- Private screen: My computer’s screen is not visible through a window.
- RAID: My hard drives use redundant RAID to prevent loss of data.
- No pirating: I do not use pirated software.
- Firewall: My home office’s network is protected by a firewall.
- No outside WiFi: I do not use WiFi connections for translation work. All communications are done on a wired network.
- VPN: I understand how to, and am willing to agree to, use an encrypted VPN for translation-related tasks.
- Secure record-keeping: My translation customer list, invoices, receipts, written communications and similar records are kept securely.
- Conflict of interest: If I experience a conflict of interest during my professional work or recognize the possibility of that perception, I will immediately discuss that with my client.
- Non-disclosure agreement : I can provide my own NDA/security policy regarding my French translation services for clients who do not have one but wish to.
- Security specialist: I have been trained in the data security field. I apply those exact principles to my translation services.