Achieve GDPR, UK GDPR, and ePrivacy Directive compliance

GDPR compliance for website trackers and cookies means ensuring that personal data collected through cookies, pixels, fingerprinting, and similar technologies is processed lawfully, transparently, and with appropriate user consent. Under the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive, most non-essential cookies and tracking technologies require prior, informed consent before they are activated. Organizations must clearly disclose what data is collected, why it is collected, who receives it, and how long it is retained. Compliance also requires honoring user rights, including access, deletion, and objection to processing, and ensuring that trackers do not fire before valid consent is obtained.

Vault tests your website the way a regulator would — by analyzing what actually happens when a user lands on a page. It captures and inspects live network traffic to detect cookies, pixels, fingerprinting, ID syncing, and other tracking technologies, including those triggered before consent. Vault also validates that consent banners properly block non-essential trackers, simulates access from EU and UK jurisdictions, and monitors whether sensitive data is transmitted.

Vault continually tests multiple scenarios. We detect third-party cookies and tags by analyzing live network traffic and page behavior, not just page source. We capture requests, responses, scripts, pixels, and ID-syncing activity as they execute, including trackers loaded dynamically through tag managers or third-party SDKs. To maximize visibility, Vault tests across multiple pages, user personas, geographies, and environments. This runtime testing approach allows Vault to uncover trackers that traditional static scans often miss.

Vault provides documented proof of how your website behaves in real time, including detailed logs of network requests, cookies set, trackers fired, consent states, and data transmitted before and after user interaction. It maps these findings to specific GDPR and ePrivacy requirements, generating structured reports that show whether consent was obtained before tracking, whether sensitive data was exposed, and whether regional rules were honored. Evidence is stored in an auditable format, giving privacy teams defensible documentation for regulators, internal reviews, and external assessments under the GDPR.

A basic cookie consent tool displays a banner and records user choices, while a basic scanner typically scans the page source for cookies or scripts. Vault goes further to verify real-world compliance. Vault analyzes live network traffic and runtime behavior to see what actually fires, including dynamically loaded tags, fingerprinting, ID syncing, and data sent to third parties. It validates whether trackers are truly blocked before consent, tests jurisdiction-specific experiences, and produces audit-ready evidence.

Yes. Vault helps organizations address both the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive, which work together but regulate different aspects of tracking. The ePrivacy Directive governs whether cookies, fingerprinting, and similar technologies can be placed on a user’s device — typically requiring prior consent. GDPR governs how any personal data collected through those technologies is processed, stored, and shared. Vault tests whether non-essential trackers fire before consent (ePrivacy) and whether the resulting data flows align with lawful basis, transparency, and user rights obligations under GDPR.

Compliance testing should be ongoing, not a one-time exercise. At a minimum, websites should be tested before major releases, after adding or updating tracking technologies (including tag manager or SDK changes), and whenever consent flows are modified. Because third-party scripts and ad-tech partners can change behavior without notice, periodic monitoring (monthly or quarterly) is considered best practice. For organizations subject to the GDPR and the ePrivacy Directive, continuous or recurring testing provides defensible evidence that consent enforcement and data flows remain compliant over time.

Yes, if the tracker executes during tested user flows, Vault will detect it. Because Vault analyzes live network traffic and runtime behavior, it identifies new cookies, tags, pixels, fingerprinting activity, and third-party requests as they fire. Newly introduced trackers — whether added intentionally, through a tag manager, or via an updated third-party script — are surfaced in the inventory and evaluated against compliance rules. Ongoing or scheduled scans ensure that unexpected changes don’t go unnoticed, giving teams early visibility into new data flows before they become regulatory risks.

Yes. Vault is designed to test websites that operate across multiple languages and jurisdictions. It simulates user access for EU member states or the UK to verify that consent banners, cookie behavior, and tracking practices adjust appropriately based on location. This includes validating language-specific disclosures and ensuring non-essential trackers do not fire before consent where required. By testing localized experiences programmatically, Vault helps organizations demonstrate compliance across regional variations under the GDPR and related requirements.

Initial visibility can be achieved quickly — often within days — because Vault begins capturing and analyzing live data flows as soon as testing is configured. Early scans typically identify consent gaps, unauthorized trackers, or sensitive data exposures right away. Full compliance depends on your remediation cycle, internal processes, and technical complexity. Vault accelerates that process by prioritizing findings, mapping them to legal requirements, and providing audit-ready evidence, enabling teams to move from discovery to documented compliance efficiently.