What are cookies?

 Cookies are files stored on your computer, phone or tablet by a web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, etc.) at the request of a website (e.g. www.google.ro etc.). These files contain numbers and digits and are used to store a certain piece of information about your activity on a particular website.

What are the risks of cookies?

 A cookie module is not a computer software and cannot be used to spread viruses. Therefore, cookies are not dangerous. However, cookies may be used for malicious purposes. As they store information about the users’ preferences and browsing history, cookies may be used as a form of spyware. Many anti-spyware programs are aware of this and constantly mark cookies to be deleted as part of the delete/anti-virus scan/anti-spyware procedures.

As cookies are used to constantly transmit information between the browser and the website in both directions, if a hacker or unauthorized person intervenes during the data transmission process, then the information contained by the cookies may be intercepted. Although rarely, this may happen if the browser connects to the server using a non-encrypted network (e.g. unsecured Wifi connection).

How can cookies be controlled?

 Cookies are stored for a determined period by the website at the request of which they are saved, and they may be deleted either by you or by the website requesting their saving (only if that website is revisited); anyway, they are automatically deleted when their validity period expires.

You may control and/or delete cookies as you wish. You may delete all cookies modules which are already on your computer and may set most of the browsers to prevent their placement. If you do this, you may have to adjust certain settings manually when you visit a website, and some services may not work. All modern browsers allow for changing cookie settings. These settings can be usually found under “options” or the “preferences” menu of your browser.

What types of cookies are there?

 There are two types of cookies: session cookies and persistent cookies.

 Session cookies are stored temporarily on your browser which memorizes them until you close the browser window.

Persistent cookies are stored for a longer period by your browser, even after you close the browser window. This type of cookies may be saved by other websites than the one you are visiting (third party cookies) and may be used anonymously to remember your interests, so as to deliver relevant advertising.

 For more in this topic, please visit the dedicated page on the European Commission website (http://ec.europa.eu/ipg/basics/legal/cookies/index_en.htm).

What are the types of cookies used by our website?

Our website uses cookies (session and persistent cookies) mainly for the following purposes:

A visit on this website may place cookies for the following purposes:

1.  Identifying authenticated users. Thus, every time you log in, a session or persistent cookie (as the case may be) with a unique code is saved on your web browser. If you access our website from the same computer, phone or tablet and using the same browser during the validity period of the persistent cookie, you won’t have to log in again. If, according to your browser settings, we cannot save at least session cookies, you will not be able to authenticate;
2. Website performance cookies. This type of cookie remembers the user’s preferences on this website, so their setting is not necessary for each visit on the website.
3. Visitor analytic cookies. These cookies tell us whether you have visited this website before. This allows for the monitoring of single users visiting us and how often they do so. As long as you are not registered on this website, these cookies may not be used to identify individual persons as they are only used for statistics. If you are registered on the website, we may also know the details you have provided, such as the e-mail address and username – subject to confidentiality and to the Privacy Policy, as well as to the applicable laws on personal data protection;
4. Advertising cookies. These cookies allow us to find out whether you viewed an online ad or not, its type and how long since you’ve seen the advertisement. We use these cookies to target online advertising. We may also use third party cookies for better advertising targeting. These cookies are anonymous, as they store information about the viewed content and not about the users.

How can you enjoy safe and responsible browsing based on cookies?

 The vast majority of the most visited and largest websites use cookies, therefore they are almost inevitable. Disabling cookies does not allow the user’s access to the most widely used websites, such as Youtube, Gmail, Yahoo, and others.

We are presenting below some advice to help you browse safely with cookies:

•  Customize your cookie settings in your browser;
• If you share computer access, you may consider setting the browser to delete individual browsing data every time you close the browser;
• Install and constantly update antispyware applications;
• Make sure your browser is always updated, so as to prevent the exploitation of weaknesses in the old browser versions;
• Make sure you connect to safe networks.

How can you allow or block cookies on this website?

 You may easily allow or block cookies on this website, by clicking on one of the following links: Allow cookies / Block cookies.

[You should be aware that such a section/option is required only if you use cookies modules requiring informed consent. For example, the following types of cookies do not require your consent:

(i) authentication;

(ii) security (e.g. used to detect authentication abuses);

(iii) multimedia content (e.g. used to store technical data about the playing of video or audio content);

(iv) customization of the user interface (e.g. used to select language or other interface preferences);

(v) third party cookies for member authentication through social media accounts.