NDAs and secure file sharing

Everything You Need to Know about NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreements) & How to Maintain and Distribute Them Safely?

Katherine Chiang
Synology C2
Published in
5 min readOct 24, 2022

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Photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash

Nowadays, NDAs represent an essential legal foundation for preventing the disclosure of sensitive and secret information by the receiver of such information. Companies and startups utilize these contracts to guarantee that external entities do not steal their innovative concepts.

What is an NDA?

Non-disclosure agreements, often known as NDAs, are legally enforceable contracts that establish a “confidential relationship” between an entity with sensitive information and another that will access that information. NDAs are also known as confidentiality agreements. If two people are in a confidential relationship, any one of them has an obligation to keep certain information to themselves.

Overall, the key functions of an NDA include:

  • Categorizing Protected Information: NDAs classify information by distinguishing between confidential and non-confidential data. This enables parties to operate freely within the confidentiality agreement’s parameters.
  • Safeguarding Patent Rights: Since the public revelation of a pending innovation may often invalidate patent rights, an NDA can shield an inventor while they develop a new product or idea.
  • Protecting Sensitive Data: Signing an NDA provides a legal commitment to maintaining sensitive information confidentiality. Any disclosure of this data is a violation of the contract.

Uncovering the purpose of NDA & Who should sign an NDA?

NDAs are usually agreed upon and signed at the outset of a new business relationship. It is possible for an NDA to encompass an unlimited amount of information, including everything from test findings and system specs to client names and sales numbers. Ultimately, an eventual violation of the NDA and the disclosure of confidential information is regarded as a breach of contract.

There are two primary categories of NDAs: unilateral and bilateral. When one party is required to keep specific information about the other party secret, this arrangement is unilateral. Conversely, if the agreement is bilateral, when two parties enter into an agreement with each other, they will preserve the other party’s secret information.

When and where to employ it depends on your enterprise and the information you want to safeguard. Overall, an NDA should be signed by everybody who deals with or might be knowledgeable about confidential information.

Employees and Independent contractors — Employees’ conventional employment contracts may include comparable clauses about corporate ethics and confidentiality. If you have workers that deal closely with sensitive material, you should also consider having them sign a confidentiality agreement. Although independent contractors are not tied by the same contractual and social connections as regular workers, they may nonetheless come into touch with sensitive material during their employment.

Partners — If your firm outsources parts of its process externally or closely collaborates with other companies on projects, it is advisable to have them sign an NDA to prevent them from misusing confidential information.

Photo by Campaign Creators on Unsplash

Limitations of NDAs

Notwithstanding the benefits and protection provided by NDAs, there are still several limitations that hinder their application. It is important to emphasize that are still informational gaps and grey areas that NDAs cannot bridge.

Furthermore, the courts can interpret the scope of an NDA in a way that may be contrary to what one or more of the parties had originally anticipated. If the material that an NDA protects is disclosed in another manner — such as via a court case or subpoena — then the NDA is null and void.

C2 Transfer help with sharing confidential documents (including NDAs)

Even with the presence of NDAs, professionals and businesses must take no risks with file sharing, securing every piece of information when external sharing is involved in preventing any possible cybersecurity dangers and information leaks.

Emerging at the frontiers of technological innovation, C2 Transfer is a cloud file-sharing service by Synology C2 that enables professionals and enterprises to securely transfer files, including NDAs and information that NDAs cannot protect.

How can businesses achieve more when using C2 Transfer?

Maintain better control over your files

  • Speedbumps are the last thing you need during a commercial transaction. The real-time view notification function makes it simple to know when to follow up on any kind of contract or document when transferring them using C2 Transfer.
  • Users may also establish email notification settings to get an email whenever a transfer task is launched and a file is downloaded or uploaded.
  • When it is time to close a transaction, C2 Transfer’s high-level security allows prospects to access contracts quickly, easily, and safely.
C2 Transfer — the overview portal allows users to keep track all the file’s flow and status

Share files in a secure manner

  • End-to-end encryption — Before any data leaves your device, it is all encrypted using AES-256. Data en route to and stored on C2 servers are completely encrypted, ensuring total security throughout the process.
  • Identity authentication feature — C2 Transfer is intended to ensure that only you and your designated recipient have access to your data, which is encrypted and decoded exclusively on the client side.

Our use of end-to-end encryption and recipient authentication makes you and your data as secure as possible against unauthorized access attempts.

Add extra protection to your files

If your organization outsources segments of its processes to third-party providers or if you are collaborating closely with another organization on a joint project. Whether or whether you have signed an NDA, the papers often include innovative company concepts or other secret information. C2 Transfer provides security safeguards to safeguard and approve your data.

  • Watermark — Utilize your company logo as a watermark to ensure that the documents belong to your organization. Senders can also choose to add the recipient’s contact details, such as their email address, as a watermark by leveraging the newly introduced %Visitor contact% feature, enabling the sender to track the documents and its original recipient in case of a document leakage.
  • One-time download — Apply one-time download so that the file can solely be downloaded once, even if the link was widely shared
C2 Transfer — Add extra settings including watermarks, link expiry dates, and download limits to the file

Bottom Line

Without a doubt, NDAs represent a core pillar in protecting any enterprise’s intellectual property and sensitive data. However, there are still some drawbacks associated with NDAs. In this pursuit, C2 Transfer integrates the necessary layer of security for sharing important contracts, company files, and even NDAs. Complete encryption is applied to data while it is being sent to and preserved on C2 servers, ensuring the highest degree of security throughout the process.

Enjoy your free 30-day trial with C2 Transfer today!

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