The following statements refer to our end-user products; they do not apply to cases in which you actively contact axes4, such as requests for quotations by e-mail or tickets in our support portal.
The axes4 products (such as axesWord, axesSlide or axesPDF) do not themselves transmit any data to our servers. The only context in which a transfer can take place is the license check of our products.
axes4 currently offers four different licensing technologies.
Active Directory Licensing
For organizations that operate an On Premise Active Directory (AD), we offer Active Directory licensing. You can set up a group in the AD with the desired end users for the axes4 products.
With Active Directory licensing, no data is transferred to our servers and there is no communication between your servers / client computers and our servers.
Entra ID Licensing
For organizations that use Microsoft Entra ID, we offer Entra ID licensing. You can set up a group with the desired end users for the axes4 products in your Entra ID directory.
With Entra ID licensing, no data is transferred to our servers and there is no communication between your servers/client computers and our servers.
axes4 ID
The standard licensing model for individual users or small companies is axes4 ID.
End users create an account on our licensing website. Technically, however, the account is not created on our servers, but with Okta Auth0, which we use as an identification service. axes4 has the e-mail addresses and possibly the names of the end users, but never the password.
Communication Channels
The axes4 software (client) must establish an internet connection for activation.
- Requests to the axes4 license server are always initiated by the client and always go to the same address: https://api.axes4.com.
- axes4 authorization requests always go to the following addresses: https://auth.axes4.com and https://id.axes4.com.
- Incoming connections can be blocked entirely (100%).
Data Transmission
Transmission of the IP address
Your IP address is transmitted and stored for 30 days.
Transmission of the axes4 ID
The axes4 ID is your key to all axes4 applications. Each time you log in with your axes4 ID, your associated e-mail address is transmitted to the axes4 license server.
Anonymized Data
To ensure the reliability of the licensing system, anonymized data is required for assigning licenses and features. This anonymization is performed by the locally installed license manager using the proven cryptographic hash function SHA256. This ensures that, in login-based licensing, no personal data other than the axes4 ID is transmitted.
Overview of Transmitted Data
The following anonymized data is transmitted during activation:
- Client system time
- Anonymous User ID
- Anonymous Device ID
- Anonymous Client IDs:
- ClientID1: derived from the username (SHA256)
- ClientID2: derived from the user’s domain (SHA256)
- ClientID3: derived from various hardware details (CPU, baseboard, system) (SHA256)
- ClientID4: derived from the hostname (SHA256)
- ClientID5: derived from the device’s domain (SHA256)
- ClientID6: derived from the process ID (e.g., when running two identical applications on the same machine)
- ClientID7: Login ID (randomly generated by us at each login)
The Client IDs are regenerated on the fly for each licensing operation (activation, deactivation, token refreshing) and are not stored in the database.
Use of Anonymized Data
The transmitted anonymized data is used exclusively for the following purposes:
- Correct license assignment
- Ensuring functionality
- Targeted support
- Statistical analysis
- Service optimization
Licensing agent
The licensing agent is an older technology as part of our offering for larger organizations. We no longer recommend it, but advise Active Directory or Entra ID licensing.
The licensing agent is a server program that runs in your network. The end users license themselves there; the licensing server in turn contacts our servers on the Internet to ensure that the licenses are used correctly.
End user data is only transmitted to the in-house licensing agent. Only the licensing agent communicates with the axes4 license servers. The data transmitted is hashed, i.e. anonymized, which means that no personal end user data is transmitted.
The licensing agent admin must create an axes4 ID. The information in the section above applies to them.