---
title: Data handling
description: What Surface collects, what it does not, how long it keeps it, and how organizations are kept apart.
---

## What is collected

Facts about software on each laptop:

- Which AI tools exist, their version, where they are installed, and how they connect to each other
- Which policies each tool breaks
- The laptop's name, operating system, hardware summary, scanner version, and the person using it

Conversation text is collected only when you turn on a [prompt collector](/surface/extensions/endpoint/prompt-collectors/overview).

## What is not collected

- The content of files the scanner looks at. Skill and memory files are reduced to metadata before anything is sent.
- Passwords found in configuration files. They are reported as a finding, never as the password itself.

## How long data is kept

| Data | Kept for |
| --- | --- |
| Sessions | 30 days, unless stored in your own [S3](/surface/extensions/cloud/s3) or [Splunk](/surface/extensions/cloud/splunk) |
| Inventory and audit history | The life of the organization |
| A laptop's credential | Disabled after 60 days without contact, deleted after 90 |

## Keeping organizations apart

Every record is tagged with your Organization ID and can only be read within it. Credentials you save for extensions are encrypted and tied to your organization.

## In transit and at rest

All traffic between laptops, the console, and SuperAlign is encrypted. A laptop's credential is stored hashed on the server, so it cannot be read back. Only owners, admins, and viewers can open a transcript, and every opening is written to the [audit log](/surface/admin/audit-log).