In today’s digital age, no one stores important data and files in computer drives anymore. Nowadays, people prefer to store their important data in the cloud as it holds large volumes of data in lesser space. Still, people are skeptical about the security and confidentiality of their valuable and irreplaceable data in the cloud.
To fully secure your data in the cloud space, is it important that you use a password to access the data on the internet or is your data going to be all digitally encrypted in the storage device? This is a question faced by most internet users apprehensive of migrating to the cloud. The answer is quite simple. You can either go for one or both options for securing your data. Some other key factors to consider while sharing files online:
Data Protection
Luckily, almost all of the cloud storage platforms encrypt the data as and while it moves backward and forward. This makes it difficult for them to read and understand and increases the data protection on the cloud, in case a hacker gets access to these files. Most of the cloud storage systems are operated by online applications. Therefore, it is important to make sure that it is being run on a secured HTTP. In case your storage app does not run through the web, make sure that the app works using some form of encryption.
Protecting Personal Information
To protect your personal data from cyber attacks, it is better to never disclose your passwords to anyone; even to any IT technicians. In most cases, customer support representatives from IT departments do not require any passwords and ask for your basic information. Therefore, if someone asks for your password instead of your basic information, then you need to be careful and try to not share it with anyone.
It needs to be understood that cybersecurity representatives, if well-equipped and skilled, do not require your password. They are well trained to get the job done through basic information only. Various reliable cyber security training programs such as the CCIE security certification, for instance, train cybersecurity staff through current knowledge and practical training to cope with any unexpected situations and provide best cybersecurity services to their clients.
Protection Of Passwords One needs to understand that passwords are not completely secure and hack-proof. They can be cracked by brutal cyber attacks and skilled cybercriminals. If your cloud storage space is password- protected, then it is better to go for a complex password that’s hard to crack. Changing your password frequently is also a great idea to ensure safety and protect it from cyber attacks as cybercriminals have become highly advanced with access to more sophisticated cyber attacking tools becoming commercialized.
Protection Against Brutal Cyber Attacks
At times, cyber attacks occur on the entire cloud storage space rather than on a specific user or organization. Therefore, it is extremely important to do some market research beforehand and select such cloud storage providers that have a good track record of protecting their users’ data.
Access Of Data By Government
Even if you try to secure your data from hackers, there is still a chance that it might be viewed by government organizations. In the US, cloud service providers are required to give access to any of their users’ information to the government. Therefore, it is extremely important that you opt for such cloud storage providers who are investing most of their time and energy to provide safety to their clients’ data.
When selecting your cloud storage provider, it is advisable to first understand how they secure their users’ data. Some other factors to consider are the following:
Analyzing Your Data Type
When choosing your cloud storage provider, the first step you need to take is to go through all the data that you need to store and decide how you want to reach it and gain access to it. Secondly, you need to figure out and assess how confidential your data is and how much security is required to protect it against cyber attacks.
If you plan to store your bank details or other personal information, then you will require a high level of security to protect your personal information. In case you want to upload any general data such as some downloaded movies or songs, then you might be not too concerned about its safety.
End Users Vs Business Corporations
Data protection is more complex for business organizations than it is for individual users. Even if you choose the best cloud storage service that has a good reputation for protecting data against cyber attacks, there still may be a chance of your data getting hacked as no system can be completely secure from cyber attacks.
However, as mentioned earlier, sound training programs such as CCIE Security Certification equip personnel with adequate technical as well as tactical skills to manage such security threats. Apart from such training, if security experts have cleared globally recognized examinations such as the CISA certification, then their skills are validated worldwide, proving their capabilities and IT skills to overcome security breaches and threats. Such threats are not a major concern for individual users but are of great concern for large business corporations. Therefore, they need to be more cautious when choosing a cloud service providing a platform to protect corporate data.
Storage Apps
It is seen that many business organizations who wish to use cloud service platform to store and share their important files find it hard to switch to a cloud platform since the cloud storage service providers can also view the files and information of their users. Providers of such services offer improved data security and confidentiality. Still, many business organizations are reluctant to share confidential data through these platforms as these providers may or may not have access to their data.
Many storage apps help to enhance performances and productivity between colleagues and team members.
Mostly, team members have to share important work files with each other, this task becomes easier with storage applications such as Dropbox and SharePoint. If you have taken SharePoint 2016 administration training or have worked on the system, you will know how it helps in managing files on cloud.
As the Dropbox is an easy and simple way to save data, it is considered as adequate in usage for most individuals, but still has experts concerned over a few security lapses. It conveniently encrypts data while it moves back and forth across the web. However, one major concern for your Dropbox account is that the local authentication protection depends upon the user. To log in through another PC, all you require is your configuration file’s copy. In this way, you limit the entry of your PC.
Moreover, with Dropbox application, the titles of your data files and documents are given in the plain text. The intervention of the third source of cloud security application to encrypt and secure the data and filenames and prohibit unauthorized access to those files and data without your decoding keys is entirely your discretion.
Conclusion
Amazon Cloud drive states clearly its policies regarding your data security and any likely security threats. Its user agreement states that Amazon has legal rights to access your data anytime for your support. Also, it is advised to take benefits from the AWS certification to work efficiently. For instance, Amazon cloud drive provides MP3 music streaming, and strongly reinforces copyright laws of music. So, if you wish to protect your audio files, you need the intervention of a third-party cloud security app to encrypt all the data you save on the cloud space and you can do it more effectively when you have a certification on your hand.
