A Confidentiality Agreement (aka Nondisclosure Agreement) is a written contract by which two or more parties agree to keep certain information confidential. Such an agreement helps protect intellectual property, such as inventions, trade secrets, proprietary data and confidential business information. Through the use of a confidentiality agreement, both parties can be assured that the sensitive information they exchange will remain secure and only used for the purpose it was intended for. This type of agreement is also known as a nondisclosure agreement because it helps maintain secrecy and prevent disclosure of this confidential material to third parties.