What is a cookie?
When a user accesses a website a cookie, or small text file is downloaded on to the computer or smartphone. Most cookies require the user’s permission (‘consent’), while there are also some which do not as they are classed as essential. This allows the website to recognize the user’s device and store information such as preferences, browsing activity or previous actions.
How does Oasis Insurance approach cookies?
At Oasis Insurance we continuously look for ways to improve what we do and how we do it. Utilising cookies to do this allows us to give you the best possible experience. This might be by tailoring the adverts a user sees, understanding what parts of the site users are most interested in, and more importantly which parts of the website users are not interested in so we can improve these.
What are the different types of cookies?
There are namely two different types of cookies:
- Session or Essential Cookies – These are only active when you visit a website and effectively make sure your visit is secure or save things while you're browsing. An example of this is items in your shopping basket on a clothing website. However, once your browser is closed, these cookies are deleted.
- Persistent Cookies – These stay on your device until their expiry date or you delete them. This type of cookie usually captures things such as what you do on a website, the pages viewed, length of time viewed and/or marketing preferences.
We will only secure cookies on your device if they are strictly necessary for the operation of this website. For other types of cookies we will need your permission.
Are cookies secure?
There are lots of concerns regarding privacy and security of users on the internet. At Oasis Insurance, we take this very seriously. Cookies themselves do not present a threat to privacy as they are only used to store information with which a user has volunteered or the web server already has, ultimately making a user's experience more efficient.
What data is captured in a cookie?
As with any product or service, the type of data which is stored will differ depending upon the website and the purpose of a user’s visit. If you visit a website again, your device may search to see if it has an associated cookie, thus recognizing you as a previous visitor and remembering personal information. Some examples of what is captured is:
- Name of the website and browsing history
- Products being viewed
- Type of device
- Unique ID
- Session ID
- Time taken on specific pages
- Date
- Username and password
- IP address
- Preferences
What type of cookies do we store for you?
Oasis Insurance uses the following cookies, all of which are secure as per industry standard.
Session or Essential Cookies
Essential cookies help make a website useable by enabling basic functionality with which the website would not be able to function. These will include page navigation and loading a website.
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Provider |
Cookies |
Purpose |
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https://www.oasisinsurance.co.uk |
ARRAffinity |
Because our website is hosted on Microsoft Azure, this cookie is used to control the effective loading of the website to the specific instance of the website within Azure. This cookie expires when the session expires. |
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ARRAffinitySameSite |
These cookies are set by websites which run on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform. It is used for load balancing to ensure the visitor page requests are routed to the same server in any browsing session. |
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Token = Antiforgery token |
The purpose of this cookie is to prevent an attacker using an authentication cookie to do things on behalf of the actual user. |
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ASP.NET SessionId |
Used to cache data on the website during the quote journey to improve performance. |
Persistent Cookies
Analytics
Analytical cookies help Oasis Insurance to understand how visitors interact with the website, by anonymously collecting and reporting information.
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Provider |
Cookies |
Purpose |
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Google Analytics |
_ga |
This cookie registers a unique ID which is used to store statistical data on how a visitor uses the website. Data included could be number of visitors, source, pages visited. All of these are anonymized. |
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_gid |
This cookie registers a unique ID which is used to store statistical data on how a visitor uses the website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the website is doing. |
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_gat |
This cookie registers a unique ID which is used to store statistical data on how a visitor uses the website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the website is doing. |
For more information on Google Analytics Cookies, please click here.
Marketing
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Provider |
Cookies |
Purpose |
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ads/ga-audiences |
Used by Google AdWords to re-engage visitors by storing information for remarketing purposes. |
How can I manage my cookies?
With most browsers the user has the ability to control cookie settings, usually within their specific browser settings. A user may choose to enable or disable cookies, see what cookies your device has stored, delete cookies or choose how long they are stored on your device. For ease we have also provided links to some of the most popular browsers which explain how to turn cookies on or off:
How do I give permission or withdraw permission for using cookies?
Upon visiting a website you can give your consent to use cookies by:
- Clicking the box or boxes which pop up on our website by allowing us to use them.
- Enabling cookies within the privacy settings of your specific browser.
You may also withdraw consent to use cookies by:
- Amending the cookie choices you’ve made via browser settings.
- Remove the persistent cookie text files which have an expiry date in the future.