Cloud Storage: Is Your Personal Information Safe?

​Over the next few years, it’s likely that more and more of your information is going to live “in the cloud” (translation: in a data center somewhere on the Internet). Between documents, music, movies, photos, and apps, most of us are accumulating vast amounts of digital content. Cloud services such as iCloud, Amazon Cloud Drive, DropBox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and Box allow us to store more content than will fit on our devices, often for free, and help keep that data from being lost if our device is damaged, lost, or stolen. They let us access our files from multiple places and devices, and some, such as Dropbox and Google Drive, are designed for easy sharing and collaboration with other people. But with all the cyber attacks and data breaches in the news, you may wonder whether cloud storage is secure. Here’s the straight scoop.

While there’s no such thing as 100 percent security, data in cloud storage is going to be safer than data on your device.

Why?

Because commercial data centers have physical security, 24x7 data backup, and full-time information security staff, and you don’t.

Sure, they could be hit with spyware or ransomware, but so could your home computer, and they have a lot more resources to discover the problem and fight back. All the major cloud storage services encrypt data in transit between your device and their data center, and some encrypt it “at rest” (in storage). Their employees are not allowed to access the information in your files, and you alone control who your files are shared with.

Ironically, the weakest link in cloud storage security can be you – the user. An exposed password or a malware-infected file uploaded by a user could infect a cloud storage system, so you have to help protect your data in the cloud just as you would on your computer or smartphone. The basics are the same:

• Guard your passwords (preferably with a password manager), use strong passwords, and, when you have the option, use two-factor authentication to access your cloud account.
• Be careful what you download to your computer.
• Protect your devices with security software.
• Back up your information to an external hard drive. Don’t count on cloud storage as your primary data storage. The free versions don’t guarantee against data loss, and a natural disaster or other emergencies could leave your data temporarily inaccessible.

In general, cloud services are a safe and versatile choice for your information, offering you storage capacity, easy collaboration, and anytime, anywhere access to your data. The future may be cloudy, but if you practice smart security, the “whether” is fine.