One common concern for companies all over the world is the security of their data. Hackers are a significant threat, and so is lost or misplaced data. This fear has forced companies to look for more reliable and safer data storage options away from their office hard drives. Cloud storage enables data storage and transfer without the primary risks involved with local storage. The question is, how safe is the data?
A while back, hackers accessed iCloud a cloud service owned by Apple. 26 celebrities’ accounts were obtained, and photos were stolen. This raised concerns about how safe the cloud is. The fact is that the cloud is the safest storage option so far. In the Apple’s case, the logging details were compromised, but not the actual cloud application. So how do you ensure that your data is safe?
Choose the Right Cloud Provider
Check the reputation of different cloud data storage providers before settling on one. You can do it by reading reviews on specialized websites. An example of such website is CloudStorageAdvice. Some may have a good reputation with minimal cases of data loss and breach of contract while others may have too many complains from clients. Steer away from such. You need to be assured that the company will not share the data with unauthorized persons and it will do everything possible to ensure its safety. Also, check out companies that allow clients to use personal data encryption and storage specifications and share the data with authorized persons utilizing a data management key. In addition to this, you must consider how available your data is. Choose a system that allows you safe access to the information any time you want with fast decrypts and downloads.
Use Encryption
It is common practice that all data stored in the cloud is encrypted. This ensures safe handling, and in case of a hacking, it will be harder for anyone to crack the code. It takes a lot of time, computer power, and knowledge to break into encrypted data stored in the cloud. On an individual level, you can ensure your accounts are safe by using hard to guess passwords that are not in any way related to your name, location or common things such as your husband’s or children’s names, birthplace or favorite occurrences. Anyone interested in you can get this information easily. Also, do not use the same password on multiple accounts.
For more safety, encrypt the data before uploading it to the cloud storage. There is free or low-cost data encryption software you can invest in that automatically ensures all data transferred to the cloud is encrypted beforehand. This ensures that hackers cannot access it from your computer. Also, do not let the cloud provider full access to the data when you want to retrieve it but decrypt it yourself.
Do not Settle for One Storage Option
As you will realize, hacking is not the primary threat to data stored in the cloud; it is the loss of the data that you should worry more about. If your information is stored in only one place, in case the system goes down, or crashes, you may lose all your files. To avoid this, ensure you use more cloud options. You can use a cloud data management company and utilize online software and applications such as the Google Drive. Besides, it is essential to make the cloud application more of a data sharing platform than storage. This minimizes loss of data.
Have More Control of the Data
When clients have power over their data, it is less likely to land in the wrong hands. Note that when you store data in the cloud, you allow third party access to the information. This is still risky because some companies or unscrupulous employees may decide to misuse the data. However, some data storage companies allow the client to have the encryption keys. This means that no one else can decrypt the information other than you or without your permission. The loss of the encryption key results to data loss.
Having an encryption key will give you more control of your data and can be an assurance of its integrity. In almost all cases, there is a specific key for each client’s data. However, the problem comes when the keys land into the wrong hands. You must, therefore, ensure that your key is protected at all times.
Cloud data solutions are on demand these days. Some use more than one option, which means that despite the heightened cases of cyber-attacks, it’s still the preferred choice of data storage. When using a cloud, you are assured the data is safe from fire and flood damage, personal computer crashing and theft. To be on the safe side, ensure even the data stored on your computers is encrypted. Most hacks happen on personal computers and not in the cloud.
