We are in fact moving to the cloud. Not in the real world, but at least, in the virtual world. Statistics show that the number of people using personal cloud is on the rise and it has almost become a common practice among small business owners.
Most businesses are making a migration from the offline PCs to Cloud because it is simple, convenient and cost effective. The impact of cloud computing has become so pervasive that we no longer use USB flash drive to carry images, file or documents, rather we opt for the smart option available .i.e. store the files on the cloud. The reason people are choosing Cloud over physical PCs is that files stored on the Cloud are accessible anywhere, anytime, given the fact that you have net connection available.
We have started trusting Cloud so much that we do not think twice before uploading documents like ID cards, bank details and other confidential papers on the Cloud. But are you 100% sure that the data stored on the Cloud is safe and secure? Probably, you are not.
In fact, there is no such universal rules and regulation that govern Cloud. Most of rules are too thin and vary widely depends on the geographical location of the users and therefore, it can be said that you do have some reasons to worry when it comes to ensuring security of your data on the Cloud.
Now if you do care for the safety and security of your confidential information, you need to try the following tips –
Use Common Sense
Okay, I am not kidding. But I think people lost it when they store too confidential information on the Cloud. No matter how reputed the Cloud service provider is you should never trust them with your bank account password or any such confidential information that can jeopardize your financial stability. And this not Rocket Science rather this is a common application of Common Sense but sadly most people seem to lack it nowadays.
We are not asking you to store files on the Cloud rather we are asking you not to store sensitive files on the Cloud. Does this make any sense to you?
Read The Agreement
Okay, let’s face it, we rarely read the boring agreement paper. But since this is about ensuring safety of your confidential data, you have to do it. So, take a deep breath and start reading the user agreement of the service provider. Make a note of things that sound a bit doubtful and before you sign up for the plan; you need to ask the service provider to clarify those doubtful points in simple English. We all know the idea is boring but believe is there is no way around it.
Strong Passwords
This may sound basic but the problem is that most human beings living on this planet do some weird things when it comes to setting up password. They use their girl’s name as password and if it does not sound crazy, some people do believe that the following password – ‘123456789’ is the strongest password ever conceived by humans so far. So, while setting up cloud server[read this in case, you are setting up rackspace cloud server], you need to make sure that you have chosen strong password that include different combinations, special characters and alphanumeric.
Have A Contingency Plan
So, you are planning to build a spaceship after the after the Earth gets hit by an asteroid? What about building one before the apocalyptic occurs? The same goes true with Cloud. You need to have contingency plan should the Cloud service provider somehow lost all the files. These types of incidents have happened before and it is not far off the mark to say that disaster can strike once again.
Know Where Your Data Is Getting Stored
You have every right and reason to know where your data is getting stored physically. There are some Cloud hosting service providers, who store data of their customers in multiple international locations. If you manage to track the place where you data are supposed to be stored, you need to the laws of their place to ascertain the risk level.
License: Creative Commons image source
