Which risk occurs when a cloud customer cannot access data because the provider ceases operation?

• A. Vendor Lock-in
• B. Modules
• C. Source Code Escrow
• D. Vendor Lock-out

Answer: (D)

This question tests data availability and continuity when a cloud provider stops operating. The risk described is that a cloud customer cannot access their data because the provider ceases operation, leaving you effectively locked out of the service. This scenario is known as vendor lock-out: you lose access not because you chose to leave, but because the provider shuts down and you have no ongoing access arrangements.

Understanding the distinction helps: vendor lock-in is about being stuck with a single vendor due to proprietary formats or lack of interoperability, making migration difficult but not necessarily caused by the provider’s shutdown. Source code escrow is a mitigation idea where access to source code can be granted under certain conditions to maintain software, which can help with continuity in some cases but doesn’t directly guarantee data access when a cloud service ends. The term modules isn’t addressing this specific risk and doesn’t fit the described scenario.

So the risk described—inability to access data due to the provider ceasing operation—is vendor lock-out.