Smishing Warning to Customers

It has come to our attention that some of our residential customers have received a text from an unrecognised mobile number falsely claiming to be from Panda.

If you received such a message, please delete promptly and avoid clicking any links contained within this message.

Authentic Panda SMS messages will never ask you to submit payment details by text and will always display "Panda" as the sender name.

Your consent applies to the following domains: www.panda.ie

Panda’s website (the “Website”) uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. We believe it is important to protect your privacy, through being open and transparent about how we use and gather personal data. This helps us to provide you with an enhanced user experience, when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site in general.

Like most organisations, Panda’s web server automatically collects and aggregates information about your visit including, but not limited to, your IP address, service provider, browser type and operating system. This information does not personally identify you and we analyse this aggregated information only in order to optimise your experience and enhance the time spent with us online. Please see below to find out more information about the type and use of cookies that are deployed on our website.

What are cookies ?

Also known as browser cookies or tracking cookies, cookies are small, often encrypted text files, located in browser directories. They are used by web developers to help users navigate their websites efficiently and perform certain functions. Due to their core role of enhancing/enabling usability or site processes, disabling cookies may prevent users from using certain websites. 

A cookie consent notice is a screen, pop-up, box, or banner on a website homepage that presents to users the website owner (and data controller’s) cookie policy and allows them to consent to, deny, or set preferences for the use of cookies. This notification will appear when a user first visits our site (Panda.ie). Granular consent options will be provided to the user in respect of each analytical performance cookie (those that capture a limited amount of personal, identifiable data from the website user.) 

The user will not however be able to deny consent for all cookies deployed on our site. This is because we require the use of some cookies (strictly necessary cookies) for basic functionality of Panda.ie website features. For this reason, these types of cookies are referred to as merely “functional” and therefore “strictly necessary” cookies to be deployed on a website. Further information about the different types of cookies we use can be found below. 

Which Cookies does Panda use?

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Always Active (Consent of the user/ site visitor is not required)

Purpose: These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information, meaning there are not the same user transparency obligations to uphold under Data Protection laws, as with “performance” or “analytical” cookies. Compliance with these laws is of crucial importance for the Panda Privacy team, to preserve customer trust. 

There are a number of strictly necessary (essential) cookies deployed on this site, including but not limited to:

  • Cookie preference
  • Local and session (short term) storage cookie

Performance/ Analytical Cookies

Status: Only active with consent of the user 

Other cookies we use are performance and analytical cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around the site when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily. You can find more information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them below.

In terms of performance the following cookies are deployed on the website, some more detailed information about the specific cookies is outlined as follows: 

Google Analytics

Purpose:  The use of Google Analytics cookies allows us to measure the performance of content by tracking where Panda.ie users visit. Google Analytics is a suite of cookies that enables us to learn more about what our visitors are searching for and where they end up on the Panda website. Google Analytics helps Panda analyse the customer data patterns and trends, which is important for advertising and marketing purposes. This allows us to enhance the services that we provide to our customers. Google Analytics is an analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses cookies to help the website to analyse how Panda.ie users’ access and use the website. The information generated by the cookies about the use of the website, including your IP address, will directly be shared and stored by Google. 

Google will use this information to analyse the use of the website, generating website’s activity reports and providing other services related with the website activity and the use of the Internet. Google may disclose such information to third parties when it is legally required or when providers process the information on behalf of Google. Google will not link your IP address to any other data that Google may have about you. Further information on how Google collects and uses this data can be found at: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/. You can opt-out of all Google supported analytics on our websites by visiting: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

_ga Cookie (Analytical Cookie): The _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site’s analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognise and identify unique visitors.

Types of personal data collected

  • IP Address (unless switched off in your Google Analytics account)
  • Location Data 
  • ClientIDs consisting of a string of numbers unique to each user on our website
  • Non-personal data: Statistical data, such as data on the number of visits and time of day of previous visits to our website. Information about how they found you found the Panda website- i.e., search and browser history

Duration (the lifespan of a Cookie on the users device, after acceptance and prior to expiration):  2 years (adjustable in Google Tag Manager Setting Configurations)

_gid Cookie (Analytical Cookie):  Installed by Google Analytics, the   _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website’s performance. Examples of categories of the data that is collected includes the number of visitors to the Panda site, their source and the pages they visit anonymously.

Types of personal data collected

  • IP Address (unless switched off in your Google Analytics account)
  • Location Data 
  • ClientIDs consisting of a string of numbers unique to each user on our website
  • Non-personal: Statistical data, such as data on the number of visits and time of day of previous visits to our website. Information about how they found you found the Panda website- i.e., search and browser history

Duration (the lifespan of a Cookie on the users device, after acceptance and prior to expiration):  1 day 

_gat Cookie (Performance Cookie): 

Purpose:  This cookie is installed by Google Universal Analytics to throttle the request rate to limit the collection of data on high traffic sites, such as Panda.ie

Types of personal data collected: Client (visitor) ID

Duration (the lifespan of a Cookie on the users device, after acceptance and prior to expiration):  1 Minute

_gcl_au Cookie (Analytical Cookie):Used to track online browsing behaviour and user interaction with the Panda website. This allows us to develop marketing trends and ultimately help optimise service efficiency, through reacting to site visitor needs

Purpose: This cookie is a variation of the _gat cookie set by Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager to allow website owners such as Panda to track visitor behaviour and measure site performance. The pattern element in the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to.

Types of personal data collected

  • IP Address (unless switched off in your Google Analytics account)
  • Location Data 
  • ClientIDs consisting of a string of numbers unique to each user on our website

Duration (the lifespan of a Cookie on the users device, after acceptance and prior to expiration):  3 Months

                           Google DoubleClick (as these cookies are used on Panda Power) 

DSID Cookie

Purpose: The functionality of this cookie is to store user preferences. Panda sets a DoubleClick cookie on the site to tell them what sections of their sites you are browsing. DoubleClick will then judge the type of adverts you might like to see from what you’re browsing. Again, this provides us with data to help enhance the Panda.ie user’s experience and brings marketing advantages for our business. 

Types of personal data collected:  IP Address, unique device identifiers. 

Duration (the lifespan of a Cookie on the users device, after acceptance and prior to expiration): 2 Weeks 

Facebook Pixel Cookie

fr Cookie:  

Purpose:  The Facebook Pixel is a piece of code that we deploy on the Panda website. It collects data that helps us track conversions from Facebook ads, optimise ads, build targeted audiences for future ads and remarket to people who have already taken some kind of action on our website. Again, the use of this cookie has marketing benefits for Panda. 

Types of personal data collected: The Facebook pixel has the potential to collect anything present in HTTP headers (cookie ID). HTTP Headers are a standard web protocol sent between any browser request and any server on the internet. HTTP Headers include unique identifiers such as, (primarily) IP addresses, but also information about the web browser, page location, document and referrer. 

Duration (the lifespan of a Cookie on the users device, after acceptance and prior to expiration): 3 Months 

Cookie data: As above, this is personally identifiable data from cookies stored on your device, including cookie IDs and settings. Learn more about how Panda use Facebook cookies in the Facebook Cookies Policy

_fbp Cookie: 

Purpose: Facebook sets this cookie on the Panda site to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising, after visiting the website.

Type of personal data collected: HHTP Headers (unique identifiers), IP address

Duration (the lifespan of a Cookie on the users device, after acceptance and prior to expiration):  3 Months

Intercom (Panda.ie Website Live Chat functionality)

Intercom-ID- Cookie

Purpose: Unique anonymous identifier used to track online visitor behaviour to develop market research and allow us to provide customers with better services, essentially. 

Type of personal data collected: IP Address, unique device identifiers 

Duration (the lifespan of a Cookie on the users device, after acceptance and prior to expiration):  9 months 

Intercom-Session- Cookie

Purpose: The purpose of this Intercom cookie is to use customer, company, and behavioural data to help personalize and target customer interaction. This cookie helps us to build customer experiences through conversational messenger- based communications with our customers, during their relationship journey with Panda. We use this cookie to optimise the customer experience for our services, by providing real time support and boosting efficiency. 

Types of personal data collected: IP Address, unique device identifiers 

Duration (the lifespan of a Cookie on the users device, after acceptance and prior to expiration):  7 Days 


CookieDescription
Necessary
CookieLawInfoConsentCookieYes sets this cookie to record the default button state of the corresponding category and the status of CCPA. It works only in coordination with the primary cookie.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-othersSet by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to store the user consent for cookies in the category "Others".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-advertisementSet by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Advertisement" category .
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analyticsSet by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Analytics" category .
viewed_cookie_policyThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin to store whether or not the user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessarySet by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin, this cookie is used to record the user consent for the cookies in the "Necessary" category .
cookielawinfo-checkbox-otherNo description available.
ARRAffinityARRAffinity cookie is set by Azure app service, and allows the service to choose the right instance established by a user to deliver subsequent requests made by that user.
Other
ARRAffinitySameSiteNo description available.
Others
intercom-device-id-di42cd8dDescription is currently not available.
_hjSessionUser_3132936No description
_hjSession_3132936No description
Advertisement
IDEGoogle DoubleClick IDE cookies are used to store information about how the user uses the website to present them with relevant ads and according to the user profile.
test_cookieThe test_cookie is set by doubleclick.net and is used to determine if the user's browser supports cookies.
_fbpThis cookie is set by Facebook to display advertisements when either on Facebook or on a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising, after visiting the website.
frFacebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements to users by tracking user behaviour across the web, on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin.
Analytics
_gat_UA-*Google Analytics sets this cookie for user behaviour tracking.
_ga_*Google Analytics sets this cookie to store and count page views.
_hjFirstSeenHotjar sets this cookie to identify a new user’s first session. It stores a true/false value, indicating whether it was the first time Hotjar saw this user.
_hjIncludedInSessionSampleHotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's daily session limit.
_hjIncludedInPageviewSampleHotjar sets this cookie to know whether a user is included in the data sampling defined by the site's pageview limit.
_hjAbsoluteSessionInProgressHotjar sets this cookie to detect the first pageview session of a user. This is a True/False flag set by the cookie.
_hjTLDTestTo determine the most generic cookie path that has to be used instead of the page hostname, Hotjar sets the _hjTLDTest cookie to store different URL substring alternatives until it fails.
intercom-id-di42cd8dNo description
intercom-session-di42cd8dNo description
_gcl_auProvided by Google Tag Manager to experiment advertisement efficiency of websites using their services.
_gaThe _ga cookie, installed by Google Analytics, calculates visitor, session and campaign data and also keeps track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookie stores information anonymously and assigns a randomly generated number to recognize unique visitors.
_gidInstalled by Google Analytics, _gid cookie stores information on how visitors use a website, while also creating an analytics report of the website's performance. Some of the data that are collected include the number of visitors, their source, and the pages they visit anonymously.
_gat_UA-92529377-1A variation of the _gat cookie set by Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager to allow website owners to track visitor behaviour and measure site performance. The pattern element in the name contains the unique identity number of the account or website it relates to.

Further reading about Cookies

Further reading about Cookies

More information about the data protection law compliance parameters around cookies can be found at: Guidance note on cookies and other tracking technologies.pdf (dataprotection.ie)

Please also visit What is a cookie? – All about Cookies as a useful resource for learning more about cookies and how they are used on your devices. 

Panda commits to compliance with all National and European Data Protection and Privacy laws and endeavours to update this Cookie Notice periodically, to accurately highlight the cookies that we utilise. As with all privacy and data protection matters involving our website, please contact privacy.officer@pandagreen.ie should you have any queries about our practices. Your privacy rights are important to us and we endeavour to respond to every query put to us by site visitors or customers, within a reasonable timeframe.