Terms & Conditions

1. Introduction

These Terms and Conditions govern the relationship between SentinelCore, referred to as “SentinelCore”, “we”, “us” or “our”, and any person, company, organisation, representative, employee, contractor or other party that accesses our website, submits a request, purchases, engages, receives or uses any SentinelCore service, referred to as “you”, “your” or “the client”.

By accessing this website, submitting an enquiry, booking a consultation, accepting a quotation, making payment, using any deliverable, or otherwise engaging SentinelCore, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree, you must not use our services or rely on any SentinelCore materials.

2. Scope of Services

SentinelCore provides technical, security and software-related services which may include, but are not limited to, secure software development, system architecture, integration support, technical consulting, AI data protection guidance, security reviews, vulnerability overviews, compliance readiness support, network monitoring, incident guidance, remediation planning, infrastructure assessment, remote support and on-site consulting.

The exact scope, exclusions, assumptions, deliverables, timelines, fees and responsibilities for any engagement will be set out in a quotation, proposal, statement of work, invoice, email confirmation or written agreement. Where there is a conflict between these Terms and a signed written agreement, the signed agreement will apply only to the specific conflict and only for that specific engagement.

3. No Absolute Security Guarantee

Cybersecurity, software security, AI protection, compliance readiness and infrastructure monitoring are risk-reduction disciplines. SentinelCore will use reasonable skill, care and professional judgement, but no service can guarantee absolute security, uninterrupted operation, full compliance, complete threat prevention, permanent vulnerability removal, or immunity from compromise, downtime, misuse, data loss, third-party failure or future attack.

You acknowledge that new vulnerabilities, configuration changes, user actions, third-party platform changes, software updates, hosting issues, credential compromise, supplier conduct and malicious activity may create risks after SentinelCore has provided advice, implementation or review work.

4. Client Responsibilities

You are responsible for providing accurate information, timely access, required credentials, approvals, technical documentation, system context, staff availability and decision-making authority. You must ensure that you have the right to instruct SentinelCore to access, assess, monitor, configure or work on any system, website, application, server, account, data, device or infrastructure you submit to us.

You must not submit passwords, secret keys, private tokens, banking credentials, confidential personal data or highly sensitive regulated information through public website forms. Where sensitive access is required, SentinelCore may request a safer transmission method.

5. Quotations, Fees and Payment

All prices, estimates and quotations are valid only for the period stated in writing. If no validity period is stated, a quotation is valid for seven calendar days. SentinelCore may revise fees where scope changes, urgency increases, technical assumptions prove inaccurate, third-party requirements change, or additional work is requested.

Unless otherwise agreed in writing, fees are payable in advance or according to the payment schedule stated on the invoice or proposal. Work may be paused, withheld or delayed if payment is late, incomplete, reversed, disputed or not cleared.

6. Deposits, Retainers and Prepaid Work

Deposits, retainers, booking fees, emergency response fees, onboarding fees and prepaid blocks reserve SentinelCore time, capacity and planning resources. These amounts may be non-refundable once work has been scheduled, commenced, reserved, researched, prepared or delivered, subject to applicable consumer protection laws.

Where a prepaid block of hours is purchased, time may be deducted for meetings, planning, research, communication, testing, documentation, configuration, debugging, deployment, review, reporting and administrative work directly related to the engagement.

7. Cancellation Policy - One Month Notice

Recurring services, monitoring services, retainers, support arrangements, maintenance plans, monthly consulting arrangements and ongoing service agreements require one full calendar month’s written cancellation notice unless a longer notice period is stated in a signed agreement.

Notice must be sent to hello@sentinelcore.co.za. The notice period begins only when SentinelCore receives the written cancellation request. Fees remain payable during the notice period, and services may continue during that period unless SentinelCore determines that immediate suspension is required for security, legal, operational or non-payment reasons.

Cancellation does not release you from paying fees already due, work already performed, third-party charges already incurred, committed infrastructure costs, consumed support hours, emergency response time, licensing charges, or any other amounts outstanding.

8. Refund Policy

SentinelCore aims to be fair while protecting the value of professional services, reserved time, expertise, research, analysis, planning and technical work. Refund requests must be submitted in writing to hello@sentinelcore.co.za and must include the invoice reference, payment date, service purchased and reason for the request.

Refunds are not automatically granted. Completed work, delivered reports, consultations already held, technical time already spent, emergency support, security reviews already started, remediation work already performed, custom software work, setup work, configuration work, monitoring already provided, digital deliverables, documentation, research, strategy work and third-party costs are generally non-refundable.

If a refund is approved, SentinelCore may deduct payment gateway fees, bank charges, administrative costs, third-party expenses, consumed time, completed milestones and any value already delivered. Refunds will be processed using a reasonable method selected by SentinelCore and may take time to reflect depending on banks and payment processors.

Where a project is cancelled before completion, SentinelCore may issue a partial credit or partial refund only for clearly unused and uncommitted portions of the service, after deducting work performed, reserved time, planning, supplier costs and administrative overhead. No refund will be due where the cancellation is caused by client delay, failure to provide access, change of mind after work began, refusal to cooperate, non-payment, abuse, breach of these Terms, unlawful instruction or unrealistic expectations outside the agreed scope.

9. Third-Party Services and Costs

Many engagements rely on third-party platforms such as hosting providers, domain registrars, email providers, cloud platforms, payment gateways, AI providers, monitoring systems, security tools, APIs, software libraries and communication providers. SentinelCore is not responsible for outages, bugs, price changes, policy changes, data loss, account restrictions, limitations, security incidents or decisions made by third-party providers.

Unless expressly included in writing, third-party fees are your responsibility. This may include hosting, domains, software licences, API usage, SMS, email delivery, storage, monitoring, premium plugins, paid security tools, SSL certificates, cloud infrastructure and similar charges.

10. Timelines and Delivery

Any timeline provided by SentinelCore is an estimate unless expressly confirmed as a binding deadline in a signed written agreement. Timelines may change due to client delays, missing information, technical complexity, third-party outages, security emergencies, scope changes, testing requirements, access delays, payment delays or events outside our reasonable control.

SentinelCore is not liable for losses arising from delays where the delay is caused by factors outside our reasonable control or by client-side inaction, incomplete information or late approvals.

11. Security Testing, Monitoring and Authorisation

Where you request security testing, monitoring, scanning, review, access analysis or similar work, you warrant that you have full legal authority to permit SentinelCore to perform that work on the relevant systems. SentinelCore may refuse, pause or terminate work if authority is unclear or if the request appears unlawful, unsafe, abusive or outside acceptable professional practice.

Security findings are based on the information available at the time of review and the agreed scope. A clean report, low-risk finding, or absence of detected vulnerabilities does not mean a system is fully secure or compliant.

12. AI, Automation and Data Protection Services

SentinelCore may advise on or implement controls for AI tools, automated workflows, data redaction, prompt handling, middleware, access controls, logging, policy design and related systems. You remain responsible for your own use of AI tools, the data you submit to third-party AI platforms, your compliance obligations and your internal governance decisions.

AI-related safeguards reduce risk but cannot guarantee that third-party AI systems, staff users, vendors or integrations will behave perfectly or remain compliant with future legal, technical or platform changes.

13. Confidentiality

SentinelCore will take reasonable steps to protect confidential information disclosed for the purpose of delivering services. Confidentiality does not apply to information that is publicly available, already known, independently developed, lawfully obtained from another source, required to be disclosed by law, or necessary to disclose to trusted providers for the purpose of delivering the service.

You agree not to disclose SentinelCore methods, private reports, proprietary approaches, internal documents, pricing structures, technical recommendations, custom code, security findings or other non-public materials to third parties without written permission, except where disclosure is required for internal business use or legal compliance.

14. Intellectual Property

Unless otherwise agreed in writing, SentinelCore retains ownership of its pre-existing intellectual property, reusable frameworks, methods, know-how, templates, processes, libraries, internal tools, generic code patterns, documentation structures and service methodology.

Upon full payment, you receive the agreed usage rights to final deliverables specifically created for you, subject to any third-party licence restrictions and any limitations stated in the quotation, proposal or agreement. Drafts, rejected concepts, internal notes, working files and underlying tools are not transferred unless expressly agreed in writing.

15. Acceptable Use

You must not use SentinelCore services to conduct unlawful activity, unauthorised access, credential theft, harassment, surveillance abuse, spam, malware deployment, evasion of lawful controls, infringement, fraud, or any activity that could reasonably harm systems, people, organisations or public trust. SentinelCore may refuse or terminate services where misuse is suspected.

16. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, SentinelCore will not be liable for indirect, special, incidental, punitive or consequential loss, including loss of profit, revenue, goodwill, business opportunity, data, reputation, contracts, anticipated savings or operational continuity.

Where liability cannot be excluded, SentinelCore’s total aggregate liability for any claim related to a service will be limited to the amount actually paid by you for the specific service giving rise to the claim during the one month preceding the event, unless applicable law requires a different limit.

17. Indemnity

You agree to indemnify and hold SentinelCore harmless against claims, losses, damages, penalties, costs and expenses arising from your instructions, your breach of these Terms, inaccurate information supplied by you, unlawful access requests, third-party claims, misuse of deliverables, failure to implement recommendations, or your own operational, legal, security or compliance decisions.

18. Non-Solicitation and Respectful Conduct

You may not attempt to bypass SentinelCore by directly soliciting SentinelCore contractors, staff, suppliers or associates introduced through an engagement for the purpose of avoiding SentinelCore fees or service structures. SentinelCore may suspend or terminate services where the client or its representatives engage in abusive, threatening, discriminatory, unlawful or persistently unreasonable conduct.

19. Suspension and Termination

SentinelCore may suspend or terminate services immediately where payment is overdue, instructions are unlawful, access is unsafe, the client breaches these Terms, required cooperation is not provided, the service creates unacceptable risk, third-party platforms restrict access, or continuing the engagement would be commercially, legally or technically unreasonable.

Termination does not affect accrued rights, confidentiality obligations, payment obligations, intellectual property rights, limitation of liability, indemnities or any clause intended to survive termination.

20. Website Use

The SentinelCore website is provided for general information and enquiry purposes. Website content may change without notice. We do not warrant that the website will always be available, error-free, secure, uninterrupted or free from harmful components, although reasonable care is taken.

21. Privacy and Data

Personal information submitted to SentinelCore will be handled according to our privacy practices and applicable law. You must ensure that any personal data you provide to SentinelCore is lawfully shared and relevant to the requested service.

You should not send unnecessary sensitive personal information, passwords, private keys, API secrets or confidential credentials through public forms or ordinary email.

22. Changes to These Terms

SentinelCore may update these Terms from time to time. The version published on this page will apply from its effective date. Continued use of our website or services after an update means you accept the updated Terms.

23. Governing Law

Unless otherwise required by applicable law or agreed in writing, these Terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of South Africa. The parties will first attempt to resolve disputes in good faith through written communication before pursuing formal proceedings.

24. Contact for Legal, Billing and Service Queries

All legal, billing, cancellation, refund, service, privacy and general queries must be sent to:

Email: hello@sentinelcore.co.za

Business: SentinelCore

Effective date: 3 June 2026