Terms of Service

Terms of ServicePrivacy Policy

DRAFT — NOT FINAL. This is a drafting starting point prepared for the team to hand to counsel. It is not legal advice and has not been reviewed by an attorney. Wording, the limitation-of-liability scope, jurisdiction, and enforceability must be finalized by counsel before any paying subscriber. Bracketed [notes] flag items requiring an attorney's input.

These Terms of Service (the "Terms") govern your access to and use of Whitestance, a Cyber Risk & Insurance Posture Management (CRIPM) platform (the "Service"), operated by Equity Solutions Network ("ESN," "we," "us"). By creating an account, subscribing, or using the Service, you agree to these Terms on behalf of yourself and the organization you represent (the "Customer" or "you"). If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

1. The Service

Whitestance is a risk-reduction, assessment, and organization tool. It helps you evaluate and improve your security posture and prepare your own cyber-insurance application. You complete and certify your own answers. Whitestance does not complete, submit, attest to, warrant, or act as your agent for any insurance application, and is not an insurer, insurance producer, or broker.

2. Accounts, organizations & authorized users

You must provide accurate account information and are responsible for activity under your account and for all authorized users you invite. Each organization has an Owner (billing) and may add administrators and members. You are responsible for managing your users' access and for keeping login access secure.

3. Subscription, billing, renewal & cancellation

4. No guarantee; not professional advice

Whitestance does not guarantee insurance approval, any premium outcome, or that a security incident will be prevented. Readiness scores are indicators derived from your responses — not guarantees of insurability or coverage adequacy, and not insurance, legal, or professional advice. Consult your broker and/or counsel regarding your application and coverage.

5. Your responsibilities & certification

You are solely responsible for the accuracy and completeness of your answers and of anything you submit to an insurer. Insurance applications are warranty documents; inaccurate, incomplete, or misleading responses may result in denial of a claim, rescission of a policy, or loss of coverage. Any output Whitestance generates (including a mapped answer sheet, where offered) is a draft for your independent verification, not a submission.

6. Acceptable use

You agree not to misuse the Service, including: using it unlawfully or to store data you have no right to store; attempting to breach security or access other customers' data; reverse-engineering, scraping, or reselling the Service; or uploading malware. We may suspend accounts that violate this section.

7. Intellectual property & license to your data

ESN owns the Service, its software, scoring methodology, question and guidance content, and branding. You retain ownership of the data you submit ("Customer Data"). You grant ESN a limited license to host, process, and use Customer Data solely to provide and improve the Service, as described in our Privacy Policy.

8. Data, privacy & retention

Your responses describe your security posture and are treated as sensitive. Our collection, use, storage, and deletion of data — including our retention and deletion timeline and your data-export option — are described in the Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms.

9. Confidentiality & security

We store Customer Data in an isolated database with access controls and encryption in transit and at rest. No method of storage or transmission is completely secure, and we do not warrant absolute security. [Any security commitments, SOC/CAIQ posture, or breach-notification terms to be set by counsel.]

10. Third-party services

The Service relies on third-party providers (e.g., Stripe for payments, Resend for email, cloud hosting, and, where applicable, an AI provider for explanations). Your use may be subject to those providers' terms. We are not responsible for third-party services outside our control.

11. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

12. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law: (a) ESN will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or punitive damages, or for any incident, claim denial, loss of coverage, or lost profits, arising from your use of the Service; and (b) ESN's total liability for any claim will not exceed the fees you paid to ESN in the twelve (12) months preceding the claim. [Caps, carve-outs, and enforceability to be confirmed by counsel per jurisdiction.]

13. Indemnification

You will indemnify and hold harmless ESN from claims and damages arising out of your Customer Data, your use of the Service, your submissions to insurers, or your violation of these Terms. [Scope to be finalized by counsel.]

14. Term & termination

These Terms apply while you use the Service. Either party may terminate as provided here; you may cancel your subscription at any time, and we may suspend or terminate for violation of these Terms or non-payment. On termination or expiration, the data-handling steps in the Privacy Policy (export offer and deletion timeline) apply.

15. Changes to the Service and these Terms

We may update the Service and these Terms. For material changes we will provide reasonable notice; your continued use after the effective date constitutes acceptance. [Notice method/period to be set by counsel.]

16. Governing law & dispute resolution

[Governing law, venue, and any arbitration/class-waiver provisions to be set by counsel — e.g., the State of [___], USA.]

17. General

These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between you and ESN regarding the Service. If any provision is unenforceable, the rest remains in effect. You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger or sale. Our failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver.

18. Contact

Equity Solutions Network — [email protected]

Last updated: draft (not yet effective).

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