Before signing a cloud SLA, which security-related question is most important?

Before signing a cloud SLA, which security-related question is most important?

• A. Is the vendor’s office located in your country?
• B. Can the vendor guarantee 99.999% uptime?
• C. What type of disaster plans are in place?
• D. Does the vendor offer free trials?

Answer: (C)

Disaster recovery plans and incident response are what you want to verify before signing a cloud SLA because they show how the vendor will protect data and keep services resilient after a disruption. A solid plan covers backups, data integrity during failures, how quickly data and services can be restored (RTO and RPO targets), and how the provider detects, contains, and communicates during a breach. It also signals that these plans are tested and actually operable, not just documented on paper. If these safeguards aren’t in place or aren’t well defined, you can face extended downtime and data loss, even if other aspects of the contract look good. As for the other options: whether the vendor’s office is in your country touches on data sovereignty and legal jurisdiction, which matters but is not a direct security control. A guaranteed uptime figure speaks to availability, not security controls or incident response. Free trials are about evaluating the product, not about the security posture or disaster readiness.

Disaster recovery plans and incident response are what you want to verify before signing a cloud SLA because they show how the vendor will protect data and keep services resilient after a disruption. A solid plan covers backups, data integrity during failures, how quickly data and services can be restored (RTO and RPO targets), and how the provider detects, contains, and communicates during a breach. It also signals that these plans are tested and actually operable, not just documented on paper. If these safeguards aren’t in place or aren’t well defined, you can face extended downtime and data loss, even if other aspects of the contract look good.

As for the other options: whether the vendor’s office is in your country touches on data sovereignty and legal jurisdiction, which matters but is not a direct security control. A guaranteed uptime figure speaks to availability, not security controls or incident response. Free trials are about evaluating the product, not about the security posture or disaster readiness.