How Search Encrypt Works When You Search the Web
If you have the Search Encrypt extension installed, we check the URL of the website you visit (don’t worry, we don’t store this information).
If we determine that your searches may be tracked we may intercept your request, or search. Then, Search Encrypt encrypts your search locally using AES-256 encryption. This way your search term isn’t visible in plain text either on your computer or on our servers.
Your locally encrypted search term is then securely transmitted to our servers. We use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) with AES-256 encryption methods for added security. We then decrypt your search term into plain text and request results from our search & content partners. Search Encrypt aggregates the most relevant results and securely displays them to you.
After you’ve finished searching, any search that passes through our search engine expires and cannot be viewed after 30 minutes of inactivity. This ensures that your searches are private, and stay that way even if someone else has access to your computer. This feature, coupled with our encryption methods, allow Search Encrypt to offer perfect forward secrecy.
Read More About Encryption
What Information Does Search Encrypt Store?
According to our Privacy Policy: “Search Encrypt does not, generally, collect, track, or maintain personally identifiable information about consumers that use our services.”
We are a privacy based search engine, so collecting your information and following you around the web would be against our biggest premise: protecting your privacy online.
Search Encrypt’s privacy policy also states “we may collect certain anonymous information.” However, that information is “not sufficient to permit someone to identify you by name, mailing address, telephone number, social security number, driver’s license or other government-issued identification.”
