How LiveUpdate works

Your Internet Protocol (IP) address is logged when you connect to a Symantec LiveUpdate server, but it is only used to generate aggregate statistics and is then discarded.

How collected data is used

To generate accurate statistics, LiveUpdate creates a globally unique identifier that is stored on your computer to uniquely identify it (LU ID). The LU ID is created at installation by requesting a Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) from the operating system and then running that GUID through an SHA-1 algorithm to create the LU ID. This method ensures that the LU ID does not contain any information that can be used to identify you.

The LU ID can then be used in the following scenarios:

To provide quality control feedback to Symantec development teams, the number of individual computers that visit the LiveUpdate servers and whether the download and installation of specific updates succeeded or failed is recorded. The LU ID of the computer that attempted the download, the product names that updates were requested for, whether updates were required, and the configuration information listed are recorded.

Symantec also collects information about how often each computer runs LiveUpdate and the environments in which customers typically run LiveUpdate.

Any information stored by Symantec LiveUpdate is maintained in electronically secured database files at physically secure data centers located in the United States, and does not contain any personally identifiable information. Symantec does not aggregate the information stored by LiveUpdate with any data, contact lists, or subscription information that is collected by Symantec for promotional purposes.