Escrow is a legal arrangement where a third party holds an asset, in this case, a copy of the organization's data, on behalf of the other two parties (the organization and the cloud provider). The asset is released to the organization upon the occurrence of a contractually defined condition, such as the provider's bankruptcy or business failure. This mechanism directly addresses the organization's requirement to ensure access to its critical data if the cloud provider cannot fulfill its obligations, providing a crucial layer of business continuity.

A. Indemnification: This is a contractual obligation for one party to compensate another for specific losses or damages; it provides financial protection, not a mechanism for data recovery.

C. Offboarding: This refers to the standard procedures for terminating a service and returning or deleting customer data at the end of a contract, not a contingency for provider failure.

D. Encryption: This is a technical control to ensure data confidentiality. It does not guarantee the availability or return of data if the provider goes out of business.

1. Cloud Security Alliance (CSA). Security Guidance for Critical Areas of Focus in Cloud Computing v4.0. (2017). In Domain 4: Cloud Computing Governance and Risk Management

the guidance discusses the importance of contractual provisions for business continuity and exit strategies. It notes the need for "provisions for retrieving data from a provider that has gone out of business

" which is the function of a data escrow agreement. (See Section: "Domain 4: Cloud Computing Governance and Risk Management

" subsection on Contractual Security Requirements).

2. Jansen

W.

& Grance

T. Guidelines on Security and Privacy in Public Cloud Computing (NIST Special Publication 800-144). (2011). National Institute of Standards and Technology. Section 6.3

"Service Agreements

" discusses the need for clear terms regarding data ownership and procedures if a provider ceases operations

stating that an organization should "understand what will happen to its data and services in the case of an acquisition or business failure of the cloud provider." An escrow provision is a primary method to address this risk. (p. 31).

3. Subashini

S.

& Kavitha

V. (2011). A survey on security issues in service delivery models of cloud computing. Journal of Network and Computer Applications

34(1)

1-11. In the discussion of data security and availability

the paper identifies provider failure as a significant risk and mentions "data escrow services" as a potential solution to ensure customers can retrieve their data. (Section 4.1. Data Issues

p. 5). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnca.2010.07.006