Yes. We can securely connect via SSL and we're working on SSH tunneling. We recommend a db slave if possible. We can also take nightly dumps to our servers rig

Yes. We can securely connect via SSL and we're working on SSH tunneling. We recommend a db slave if possible. We can also take nightly dumps to our servers right now. We store metadata about your databases in order to provide a richer experience and we might eventually set up local caching but if we're remotely connecting we will not store any of your business data and we really don't want to.