Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern access to and use of this educational grading website RevMalArena (the "Platform") operated by Simone Aonzo, acting in an academic and educational capacity (the "Instructor", "we", "us").

By accessing or using the Platform, you (the "Student", "User", "you") acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, you must not use the Platform.

1. Purpose of the Platform

The Platform is an educational tool designed to:

• Present questions and challenges related to cybersecurity;
• Collect student submissions;
• Assist the Instructor in evaluating student performance and assigning grades or scores as part of an academic course.

The Platform does not constitute an automated decision-making system within the meaning of Article 22 GDPR. Final grading decisions always remain under the responsibility and academic judgment of the Instructor.

2. Eligibility and Academic Context

Use of the Platform is restricted to:

• Students enrolled in a course taught or supervised by the Instructor; or
• Individuals explicitly authorized by the Instructor for educational or research purposes.

Use of the Platform does not create any contractual relationship beyond the academic relationship governed by the applicable university regulations, study rules, and French and EU law.

3. Nature of Grading and Academic Discretion

3.1 Academic Judgment

Grades, scores, rankings, and feedback provided through the Platform:

• Reflect the Instructor’s academic and pedagogical judgment;
• Are based on predefined criteria, rubrics, or challenge rules, which may include correctness, completeness, originality, reasoning, methodology, and adherence to instructions;
• May include partial credit, penalties, or bonuses as explained in the course materials or exercise descriptions.

The Instructor retains full discretion, within applicable university regulations, to:

• Interpret student submissions;
• Adjust scores to correct errors, biases, or technical issues;
• Normalize or scale grades when academically justified.

3.2 No Guarantee of Results

Use of the Platform does not guarantee:

• A specific grade or academic outcome;
• That automated checks or test cases will detect all errors or merits.

4. Student Obligations

Students agree to:

• Submit only their own work, unless collaboration is explicitly authorized;
• Refrain from plagiarism, cheating, unauthorized collaboration, or use of prohibited tools;
• Avoid attempts to exploit, reverse-engineer, or attack the Platform;
• Respect deadlines and submission rules.

Any suspected academic misconduct may result in penalties under applicable university rules, independently of these Terms.

4.1 Analysis of Real-World Malware

Some exercises or challenges offered through the Platform may require the analysis of real-world, active malware samples or malicious artifacts for educational and research purposes.

Students acknowledge and agree that:

• Malware analysis inherently involves technical and operational risks, including potential damage to systems, data loss, or unintended propagation if proper precautions are not taken;
• The Instructor provides guidance, methodologies, and best practices (e.g., use of isolated environments, sandboxing, and network restrictions) intended to minimize such risks;
• Students remain solely responsible for how they conduct their analyses and for ensuring that they follow the recommended safe methodologies;
• Any damage, loss, security incident, or legal issue arising from improper handling, execution, or analysis of malware samples is the sole responsibility of the Student, to the extent permitted by applicable law.

Nothing in these Terms limits the Instructor’s obligation to teach safe analytical practices, but the Instructor shall not be liable for damage resulting from a Student’s failure to correctly apply such practices.

5. Platform Availability and Technical Limitations

The Platform is provided on a best-effort basis.

I do not guarantee:

• Continuous availability;
• Absence of bugs or errors;
• That submissions will never be affected by technical failures.

Students are responsible for:

• Submitting work in advance of deadlines;
• Verifying successful submission confirmations;
• Keeping notes of how they solved the exercises.

Technical issues do not automatically entitle a student to a grade change, deadline extension, or compensation, unless explicitly decided by the Instructor or required by university policy.

6. Intellectual Property

6.1 Platform Content

All content provided on the Platform, including but not limited to questions, riddles, challenges, statements, solutions, text, graphics, scripts, and grading logic, is the intellectual property of the Instructor or licensed accordingly, unless otherwise stated.

Students may use such content solely for educational purposes and may not redistribute or publish it without prior authorization.

6.2 Student Submissions

Students retain ownership of their submissions.

By submitting content, students grant the Instructor a non-exclusive, limited license to:

• Evaluate, store, and process the submission;
• Use anonymized excerpts for teaching, research, or quality improvement purposes.

7. Data Protection and GDPR Compliance

7.1 Data Controller

For the purposes of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 ("GDPR"), the data controller is the Instructor

7.2 Personal Data Collected

The Platform may collect and process the following personal data:

• Identification data: name, surname, email address;
• Authentication data: email address, hashed password;
• Academic data: interactions with the challenges, scores, timestamps, logs;
• Technical data: IP address, browser type, access logs.

7.3 Legal Basis for Processing

Processing is based on one or more of the following legal grounds:

• Public interest task (Article 6(1)(e) GDPR) related to education;
• Performance of a task carried out in the context of higher education;
• Legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR), such as ensuring academic integrity and platform security.

Consent is not relied upon as the primary legal basis for grading-related processing.

7.4 Purpose Limitation

Personal data are processed exclusively for:

• Educational assessment and grading;
• Academic integrity verification;
• Platform security and maintenance;
• Compliance with legal and institutional obligations.

7.5 Data Retention

Personal data are retained:

• For the duration required by academic regulations;
• As long as necessary to resolve grading disputes;
• In accordance with applicable French and EU retention obligations.

Data may be archived or anonymized after this period.

7.6 Data Subject Rights

Students have the right to:

• Access their personal data;
• Rectify inaccurate data;
• Restrict processing in certain cases;
• Object to processing on legitimate grounds;
• Lodge a complaint with the CNIL (Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés).

The right to erasure does not apply where processing is necessary for compliance with legal or academic obligations.

Requests may be sent to the Instructor

8. Automated Processing and Fairness

While the Platform may use automated checks (e.g., test cases, scoring scripts, similarity detection):

• These tools are assistive only;
• They do not replace human academic judgment;
• Students may request a human review of their grade in accordance with university procedures.

9. Complaints and Grade Disputes

Any complaint regarding Platform behavior, grading outcomes, or alleged errors must follow the official academic appeal procedures of the relevant institution.

Informal disagreement with grading methodology does not, by itself, constitute a legal or contractual violation.

10. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by French and EU law:

• The Instructor shall not be liable for indirect or consequential damages;
• No liability arises from academic judgment exercised in good faith;
• No financial compensation is due for grading disputes or technical issues.

Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot be excluded under applicable law.

11. Modifications to the Terms

These Terms may be updated to reflect legal, technical, or pedagogical changes.

Students will be informed of material changes through the Platform or course communication channels.

12. Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms are governed by French law.

Any dispute not resolved through academic procedures shall fall under the jurisdiction of the competent courts of France, subject to mandatory rules applicable to public higher education institutions.

13. Contact

For legal or data protection inquiries, contact the Instructor: