Is Cloud Storage Safe? Here's What To Know
The amount of data we need on our phones has increased as technology involves. When the first generation iPhone was released in 2007, it had a maximum storage space of 16GB. The newest iPhone Pro has a 1TB (terabyte) option, which is equal to 1000 GB. That’s over 62 first-generation iPhones in one.
And even then, it can still feel like we’re running out of space. The good news is that you can find some extra room on your smartphone in something called “the cloud,” which refers to servers accessed over the internet. Cloud services can expand your storage by holding files, photos, and other important documents.
But if this storage solution exists on the internet, wouldn’t it be possible for random people to gain access to personal information? Aren't cloud servers susceptible to data breaches and hacking? The safety of cloud storage solutions has been called into question, but let’s clear the air and give you everything you need to know.
What Is Cloud Storage?
The concept of cloud storage can be difficult to wrap your head around. Essentially, it’s a computing model that stores data on the internet. Typically on your phone and computer, files are saved on your phone or computer's hard drive by default, which is a physical storage system within your piece of tech. Cloud storage services are more of an abstract concept.
Google Cloud, Apple’s Cloud, DropBox, and Microsoft’s Azure are more common cloud programs that store data over the internet. Technically, streaming platforms like Netflix and Hulu even store their movies and TV shows in some forms of cloud storage providers.
A major benefit of cloud storage is it allows you to sync files across multiple devices. For instance, if you have a computer and phone attached to the cloud, you can access files from each one individually, so you don’t need to worry about sending items back and forth. A cloud drive can also store strong passwords in a password manager for easy logins across accounts and devices.
Additionally, cloud service providers can safely hold backups of photos, videos, and documents for easy access if your device becomes lost or damaged. It also makes it much easier to share files with other people, as they can just hop onto the cloud to access large files that you wish to send.
Is Cloud Storage Safe?
When you have data saved on your phone or laptop, the only privacy concern you have to worry about is someone breaking into your device and stealing the physical data. But it’s a bit more unclear with the cloud infrastructure about who exactly has access to that data.
Surprisingly, however, the data you store in the cloud is likely to be even safer than the information you have stored on your physical computer. This is because hackers can use malware and phishing techniques to obtain information from your device in a number of ways.
However, the cloud is extremely robust, and larger companies have taken major security measures to keep data secure. Potential hackers can’t get unauthorized access to the cloud purely because of its complexity. This is mostly thanks to major cloud platforms being monitored 24/7.
Additionally, all copies of your data stored in the cloud goes through a process called encryption. This is a common practice even outside of cloud computing, and essentially, it means that no one is able to access your files once you’ve uploaded them without a special encryption key. Your cloud provider doesn’t even have access to that.
How to Boost Cloud Security
Cloud security is an extremely secure method for uploading files. However, it’s normal to be a bit wary of uploading information to a mostly unknown source. Here are some best practices to boost the security of your cloud platform.
Enable Two-Factor Authentication
As the name suggests, two-factor authentication requires you to provide two forms of verification before gaining access to files. Normally, this includes providing a password followed by verification through text or phone calls.
This makes it twice as hard for hackers and cybercriminals to gain access to your information. So even if they’re able to track down your passwords to cloud storage sites, they’re very unlikely to be able to bypass the second shield.
Filter Out Spam Calls
Often, hackers are only able to steal some of your personal information if you provide it to them. And through spam calls or text messages, individuals are able to obtain a large amount of identity if you’re not careful.
There are two ways to do this. For one, you can block spam calls before they ever even make it to your device. Firewall creates a whitelist based on your contacts, giving you full control over who is allowed to reach through. This allows you to see who is calling you before you let them through.
Another option is using a burner phone number so that scammers never find out your real phone number when they make unsolicited calls. Burner gives you a second phone number to let you stay anonymous when receiving and making phone calls.
Filtering out spam calls helps you stay safe from fraud, telemarketing calls, and other potential hazards to your personal information.
Back It Up
You can maximize the security of your data by making sure you have both a digital copy and a physical copy on an external hard drive. Doing this ensures that your files exist in two different places at once.
If your computer crashes and you’re unable to access data on the physical drive, then you’ll be able to access it from the cloud on a new device. Conversely, if a hacker somehow accesses your files in the cloud, you still have an untouched copy on your physical drive that’s left unharmed.
Stay Up to Date
If you’ve ever gotten a notification that there have been some updates to the cloud platform you’re using, you should try not to ignore them completely. That’s because these updates often coincide with important security patches that only serve to enhance the safety of the documents that you have saved.
So next time you get the pop-up notification, just take a few minutes to do a quick update.
Conclusion
Cloud storage has made it much easier to store images, videos, and documents in an internet-based platform rather than on physical hard drives. This lets you access your files from anywhere while also streamlining the process of sharing information with others.
While it might seem like this software puts your data at risk of becoming hacked, it’s actually even safer than physical storage. This is because of the 24/7 monitoring, complexity, and encryption tactics that large cloud storage platforms use.
You can double down on your security by using two-factor authentication or by backing up your data on both the cloud as well as an external hard drive. Additionally, block out spam calls and texts to keep your information safe from hackers and scammers.
Try Firewall today to boost your cloud security.
Sources:
Cloud Storage | Weber State University