How safe is to use an online SVN repository?

Question

How safe is to use an online SVN repository?

I want to develop collaboratively with some friends. I know you can create non-public accounts in some of those services, but I can't fell confortable to send all of our intelectual products to another company manage. After all, if your idea works, those companies can easily find your source code!

Do you think this care is important? If so, what is the best solution?

My question isn't "how good it is" or "which is better", I just want know if you trust them and why (or why not).

Below I give you SVN repositories examples:

• XP-Dev
• Unfuddle
• Assembla

Thank you all!

Answer 1

If you have something valuable enough to be stolen, it's time to get a lawyer anyway. Get him involved from the start, have him review whatever agreements the various hosting sites have to offer, and make sure they can be held accountable for breaches of security, including the value of your source code in the hands of competitors.

Answer 2

It is definitely important to be concerned about your source code in the cloud. At the end of the day you have to weigh up the cost of installing, securing, maintaining, backing up yourself vs a $10/month plan with a hosted SVN service. There are always going to be a certain sector that will never upload code into a hosted repo, i.e. banks, military, etc, but for the majority of us the risk is low and minor compared to the benefits of not doing it yourself. Make sure the provider you choose enforces SSL, has regular backups (at least hourly granularity), their datacenter provider is SAS70, and a policy allowing you to download your full SVN repo dump if you choose to leave, or go elsewhere, and how long the provider has been in business, do they have a good track record, and does the provider enforce a password policy.