The place to start when looking into a cloud service is to read the terms of service. Dan Pinnington of LawPro suggests making the following inquiries:
- Who owns the data? A cloud service might lay claim to information you upload.
- Who has access to the data – both while it’s being transmitted, and stored? Ideally, it will be encrypted in both cases.
- What happens if you cancel your account? Make sure there’s a provision to retrieve your data.
- Who are you’re dealing with? Is this a company that’s just getting off the ground and might vanish, or an established firm with a roster of clients and credible hosting partners?
Special to The Globe and Mail
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