Even if there weren’t numerous studies out there predicting a rapid increase in the number of companies adopting cloud security solutions, it is obvious to even a casual observer that people are getting less hesitant to climb the beanstalk. One of the main issues that made people resist the new technology were security concerns.
This hardly seems surprising when you hear about some of the better known intrusions or crashes that have left some major services unavailable for a while, but the fact is that those services usually recovered without major consequences and that the number of successful attacks or serious crashes is not exactly that disheartening.
Finally, providers of cloud services are more than aware of the fact that data security is still perceived as one of the main issues with cloud computing and a lot of effort is being devoted to addressing each and every chink in the armor. For this reason, cloud security requirements are being updated regularly. Aside from that, there are also some things that you can do on your end to help maximize data security.
It is true that you make your data vulnerable as soon as you upload it but there are ways to eliminate some of that vulnerability. For one, you need to have control over who can access the data. If you are using a particular service on a corporate level, there needs to be a well defined hierarchy defining who has access to what parts of data. With the most sensitive data being available to the people who absolutely have to have access.
Your data is vulnerable even before it reaches the cloud. Which is why you have to make sure that you are using a secure connection when you are uploading something to or downloading something from the cloud. This means that you should stay away from public networks, like the ones in parks, coffee shops, libraries and similar.
Likewise, using your smartphone or tablet to access the data might not be the best idea. Individuals would do well to make a habit of paying attention when, where and how they are accessing their data. While companies should make sure to include all the relevant cloud security info in training of employees.
A short mention of passwords should also be a part of that security training. Even though most people are aware of the fact that it is not too wise to have just one password for numerous accounts, a lot of them still do it, believing that it’ll never actually cause any harm. It usually does, and if you enable someone to access the sensitive data of your company or acquire control over your personal storage, you’ll be quite sorry you weren’t willing to put in that extra bit of effort. Using something like LastPass might make it easier for you to keep track of your various passwords.
Another crucial step in ensuring the cloud security of your data is researching the provider, checking how long they have been in the business. What their track record is and how many dissatisfied customers do they have. Make sure to study the terms of agreement carefully, and see what kind of protection they are able to offer.
Finally, if you are really worried about someone getting to your data but still want to have it backed up online, you could always encrypt it before sending it to the cloud. This will make it impossible to share it with someone who doesn’t have the encryption key. You wouldn’t have to worry about prying eyes seeing it.
