Privacy, policies, and legal information

At VA, we take your privacy seriously. That’s why we collect only the personal information that you provide to us, and ask you to provide only the information we need to complete your

requests. This page explains our website privacy policy, including how we collect, store, use, and disclose your information. You’ll also find other information to help you understand your

rights and how we’re complying with federal regulations and user agreements.

Thank you for visiting VA.gov and reviewing our Privacy Policy. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) applies leading privacy practices and adheres to data stewardship principles in

managing our web user data. The data stewardship principles guiding our efforts include the following goals:

This policy describes how VA applies these principles to the handling of personal information you provide to us via VA.gov web pages and forms. Personal information may include your name;

email, home, and/or business address; phone numbers; Social Security number; or other information that identifies you personally.

VA follows the requirements of the Privacy Act, which protects your personal information that VA maintains in “systems of records.” A system of records is a file, database, or program from

which personal information is retrieved by name or other personal identifier. The Privacy Act provides a number of protections for your personal information. These typically include how

information is collected, used, disclosed, stored, and disposed. VA System of Records Notices are available at: Department of Veterans Affairs Privacy Act System of Records Notices. VA.gov

is a platform that uses your data from VA Systems of Record and is itself not a system of record.

VA.gov is a Department of Veterans Affairs computer system. This computer system, including all related equipment, networks, and network devices (specifically including Internet access) are

provided only for authorized uses. VA computer systems may be monitored for all lawful purposes, including ensuring that their use is authorized, managing the system, protecting against

unauthorized access, and verifying security procedures, survivability, and operational security. During monitoring, information may be examined, recorded, copied, and used for authorized

purposes.

VA.gov will not disclose your personal information to third parties outside VA without your consent, except to facilitate the transaction, to act on your behalf at your request, or as

authorized by law.

When VA.gov does collect personal information from you online, we will tell you in advance in any applicable Limited Privacy Policy’s Privacy Act Statement. The Privacy Act Statement will

contain any additional privacy policies that apply to the information collected on a particular VA.gov web page. The VA.gov web pages that collect personal information will have a hyperlink

to the Limited Privacy Policy that applies to that particular web page.

VA.gov will use your information to process requests for VA services or information. When VA.gov collects information from you, we will reference the relevant authority in the appropriate

Limited Privacy Policy. Providing the information is voluntary, but if it is not provided, we may not be able to process your request and provide you with electronic services. When

information is required to process your request, we will advise you of this fact in the appropriate Limited Privacy Policy. Any decision you make not to provide information will not have any

effect on any benefits to which you may be entitled.

VA.gov automatically collects certain information about your visit to VA.gov web pages. We limit the data collected to meet specific business needs and to protect your privacy. We may know

what path(s) you took on our websites, but we don’t know who you are. We do not use this information to identify you personally without your express consent and an authorized purpose.

We automatically collect and store the following information about your visit to the VA.gov website:

We use the general log information to help us make VA.gov sites more useful to visitors. We use it to learn about how locations on our site are being used, what information is of most and

least interest, and how we can enhance ease of use by ensuring our sites can interface with the types of technology our visitors use. We also use such statistics to tell us of any possible

site performance problems. Except for oversight, law enforcement investigations, or protection of the VA information technology infrastructure as authorized by law, no other attempts are

made to identify you or your usage habits.

General logs are used for no other purposes than the purposes described above, and are scheduled for regular destruction in accordance with General Records Schedules published by the

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and agency record control schedule requirements.

When you visit certain websites, they send a small piece of information called a “cookie” to your computer along with the web page. This is also true for VA websites. Here is how we use

cookies:

Most Internet browsers automatically accept cookies. Using cookies on VA websites creates a much better user experience. 

If you do not want to accept cookies, you can edit your browser's options to block cookies or to prompt you before accepting a cookie from the websites you visit. Learn how to block cookies

You are always welcome to use VA.gov without registering or logging in for certain services such as general content browsing, finding VA facilities, and completing forms to apply for health

care or education benefits. Other areas of the site that use your personal information and VA records, such as when you save a benefit application for submission later, refill a

prescription, use secure messaging with your health care provider, and check the status of claims and appeals will require an email address, password, and additional methods for

identification.

When you register for a VA.gov account, access to your personal information will be protected by multifactor authentication, which includes an email address, a password, and at least one

other authentication factor such as a cellular phone that can receive security codes via text message. We strongly recommend that you do not divulge your password to anyone and that you

change it on a regular basis, and that you do not share the device used for your additional authentication factor.

Many Internet browsers allow users to save user information, including passwords. When prompted by a browser to save your VA.gov authentication credentials such as your email address and

password, you should decline this option. Saving this information could potentially allow persons who gain access to a shared workstation to access your personal information, although you

are protected to some extent in this case by the VA.gov requirement for multifactor authentication before accessing your personal information.

Please remember to log out when you are finished using personalized VA.gov services. Logging out prevents someone else from accessing your personal information if you leave, share, or use a

public computer (located, for example, in a library or an Internet cafe) and your session hasn’t automatically “timed out” or shut down. You should remember to log out. If you forget to log

out or 30 minutes of non-activity pass, the session will time out.

We do not sell, rent, or otherwise provide your personal information to outside marketers. Information collected via VA.gov may be shared with employees, contractors, and other service

providers as necessary to respond to a request, provide a service, or as otherwise authorized by law. If appropriate, additional information regarding the use and disclosure of information

collected on specific web pages will be posted in the appropriate Limited Privacy Policy for that web page.

We participate in the Digital Analytics Program, a government-wide analytics tool for federal agencies. As part of this participation, this website uses Google Analytics Premium. Please

refer to the following policies on Google’s website for more information:

In those instances where we secure your personal information in transit to us over the Internet, and upon our receipt, VA.gov uses industry-standard encryption, including Secure Socket Layer

(SSL). The connection icon area on your browser will change to “HTTPS” instead of “HTTP” when this security feature is invoked. Your browser may also display a lock symbol on the task bar

at the bottom of your screen to indicate this secure transmission is in place. You should refer to the instructions for your particular Internet browser software to determine how to examine

the security certificate from our website to verify the security of the connection.

For site security purposes and to ensure that VA.gov web pages remain available to all users, VA employs software programs to monitor network traffic in order to identify unauthorized

attempts to upload or change information, or otherwise cause damage. Except for oversight or authorized law enforcement investigations, no other attempts are made to identify individual

users or their usage habits other than those uses identified in this policy.

Unauthorized attempts or acts to (1) access, upload, change, or delete information on this system, (2) modify this system, (3) deny access to this system, or (4) accrue resources for

unauthorized use on this system, are strictly prohibited and may be considered violations subject to criminal, civil, or administrative penalties.

VA.gov takes the security of all personally identifiable information we receive very seriously. We implement various measures to protect the security and confidentiality of personally

identifiable information. Such measures include access controls designed to limit access to personally identifiable information to the extent necessary to accomplish our mission. We also

employ various security technologies to protect personally identifiable information stored on our systems. We test our security measures periodically to ensure that they remain operational.

VA.gov provides access to other websites outside our control and jurisdiction. When you click on a link to these websites, you leave our website and your communications no longer are

protected by our privacy policies. VA is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of non-VA websites. We encourage you to review the privacy policy or terms and conditions of

those sites to fully understand what information is collected and how it is used.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns regarding our privacy policy or use of your information. You can contact us online at Contact VA Privacy Service, or you can mail

your question or concern to Department of Veterans Affairs, Privacy Service, 810 Vermont Avenue, N.W. (005X6F) Washington, DC 20420.

Your inquiry will be treated confidentially and will not be shared with third parties, except as necessary to respond to your inquiry and for other purposes as authorized by the Privacy Act

and other relevant legal authority.

The VA Privacy Service works to minimize the impact on Veterans’ privacy, particularly Veterans’ personal information and dignity, while achieving the mission of the Department of Veteran

Affairs.