Terms of Service

Overview

These terms govern your use of thesecurelancer.com and the engagement of TheSecureLancer's cybersecurity services. Please read them before submitting a service request.

1. Acceptance of These Terms

By using this website or engaging TheSecureLancer for any service, you're agreeing to these Terms of Service and our Privacy Policy. If that doesn't work for you, please stop using the site and don't submit a service request.

These terms apply to everyone who visits the site, enquires about work, or becomes a client. If we've also signed a separate Scope of Work (SOW) or engagement agreement with you, that document covers your specific project and wins if it ever contradicts this page.

2. Description of Services

TheSecureLancer provides professional cybersecurity consulting, including but not limited to:

• Penetration testing (web applications, APIs, network, mobile, cloud)
• Vulnerability assessments and VAPT
• Cloudflare configuration, WAF rule authoring, and edge security
• Website malware removal and incident response
• Security hardening (CMS, hosting environment, access controls)
• Red team operations and adversary simulation
• Source code security review
• Compliance readiness (ISO 27001, SOC 2, PCI DSS, GDPR, DPDP)
• Fractional CISO and vCISO advisory
• Threat modelling and DevSecOps pipeline integration

Anything on this website, service descriptions, blog posts, guides, or pricing indications, is for information only and isn't professional advice. Every engagement gets its own scope and quote.

3. Engagements and Scoping

No security testing, scanning, or activity that could affect systems, networks, or applications begins until:

• A written Scope of Work (SOW) has been agreed and signed by both parties.
• You've given explicit written authorisation confirming you own, or are formally authorised to test, everything in scope.
• Rules of Engagement (RoE), testing windows, out-of-scope items, escalation paths, have been agreed in writing.

Testing systems you don't own or aren't authorised to test is a criminal offence in most jurisdictions. TheSecureLancer will not carry out this kind of activity, regardless of how the instruction is worded. A request like this ends the engagement immediately and may be reported to the relevant authorities.

Any changes to scope after the SOW is signed need a written change order, scope creep isn't assumed to be covered by the original fee.

4. Quotes and Payment

Prices shown on the website are starting points, not final quotes. Every quote is tailored to your specific engagement and usually arrives within 2 hours of your request.

• Quotes are valid for 30 calendar days from issue, unless stated otherwise.
• Currency defaults to USD; other currencies can be agreed in writing.
• Payment terms (deposit, milestones, or paid up front) are set out in each SOW. A deposit may be required before work starts.
• Invoices go out by email. Late payment may pause work until it's settled.
• You're responsible for any taxes in your jurisdiction, quoted prices don't include GST, VAT, or withholding tax unless we say otherwise.

5. Confidentiality and NDA

Everything about your engagement is treated as confidential by default. We don't disclose engagement details, findings, system information, or any client data to third parties without your explicit written consent.

A mutual NDA is available on request and can be signed before we discuss any sensitive scope details. Happy to review and sign a reasonable NDA of your own too.

Confidentiality obligations continue for three years after the engagement ends, or as set out in the signed NDA.

6. Intellectual Property

Once you've paid all fees due for an engagement in full:

• Deliverables made specifically for you (reports, remediation guides, and similar written work) are licensed to you for internal use, including sharing with your auditors, regulators, and insurers.
• Methodologies, testing frameworks, custom tooling, scripts, and any pre-existing IP used during the engagement stay TheSecureLancer's property, these aren't transferred to you.
• You can't publish or reproduce our deliverables externally (marketing material, public disclosures, press releases) without written consent first.

Everything on this website, copy, design, structure, code, belongs to TheSecureLancer. Reproducing or using it without permission isn't allowed.

7. Warranties and Disclaimers

Every engagement is carried out with professional diligence and best-effort methodology. That said:

• No assessment, however thorough, can guarantee every vulnerability gets found. Attackers may exploit issues that weren't present, weren't in scope, or weren't discoverable in the agreed testing window.
• Following our remediation recommendations doesn't guarantee you'll avoid future incidents, security is ongoing, not a one-time fix.
• The website is provided "as is", we don't guarantee it'll be uninterrupted, error-free, or virus-free.
• Nothing on this site is legal, compliance, or professional advice specific to your situation.

8. Limitation of Liability

To the extent the law allows:

• Our total liability for any engagement is capped at the total fees you paid for that specific engagement.
• We're not liable for indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, lost profits, lost data, business interruption, reputational harm, even if we were warned it could happen.
• Nothing here limits liability for fraud, wilful misconduct, or anything the law says can't be excluded.

9. Indemnification

Each of us agrees to cover the other for third-party claims, losses, or costs (including reasonable legal fees) that come from our own breach of these terms or a signed SOW, our own negligence or wilful misconduct, or our own infringement of someone else's IP. This runs both ways, it applies equally to TheSecureLancer and to the client.

10. Acceptable Use of This Website

Please don't:

• Scrape or systematically extract data from this website with automated tools without our written consent.
• Submit false, misleading, or fraudulent information through the contact form.
• Try to gain unauthorised access to any part of this website or its infrastructure.
• Run security testing, scanning, or penetration testing against thesecurelancer.com or its hosting without our prior written consent.
• Use the website for anything unlawful.

Found a genuine security issue on this site? Responsible disclosure is welcome, report it via the contact form before any public disclosure.

11. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These terms follow the laws of India. Any dispute over these terms or an engagement falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Punjab, India.

If you're a consumer in a jurisdiction with mandatory consumer protection laws that give you stronger rights, those rights still apply, this section doesn't take them away.

12. Changes to These Terms

We may update these terms occasionally. The "Last updated" date at the top reflects the most recent material revision. We won't apply material changes retroactively to engagements already running under a signed SOW. Continuing to use the site after a revision means you accept the updated terms.

13. Contact

Questions about these terms, or about a current or prospective engagement? Reach out via the contact form, email is available on request through the same form.

These Terms of Service are the baseline agreement for using this website and engaging our services. They're supplemented, but not replaced, by any individual Scope of Work, NDA, or engagement agreement signed for a specific project. Get in touch if anything here needs clarifying before you proceed.