The explosion of digital information means that almost everyone has a lot of megabytes or gigabytes of information that needs to be stored. Whether you want to store digital photos, music that you have paid for, videos – both personal and commercial, or documents, you need to be sure that they are easily accessible when you need them and difficult for hackers and others to obtain the information they contain.
External Hard Disk
One solution is to have a backup on an external hard disk. However, this has its draw backs. First, you have to incur the cost of keeping an external hard disk and then have to ensure that you create backups regularly. Additionally, there is always the risk that the calamity that destroys the computer can also destroy the hard disk placed next to it.
Cloud Storage
Another solution is to opt for external or online cloud storage. This is a fairly inexpensive way of storing digital information. An added advantage with cloud storage is the ability to access the files you want from multiple locations or from a variety of devices. However, this ease of access has led to security fears as well.
Transmission
When you use cloud-based storage systems you are using the Internet to transfer data to an external storage device owned and managed by a third party. The first area where a breach of security can occur is during transmission. In theory, it is possible for a hacker to intercept the communication between your PC and the cloud storage device and access your data.
Solution
To ensure that hackers cannot access your personal data, the cloud storage provider will ask you to use an application that encrypts the data before you send it. This means that any intercepted data is just garbled nonsense to the hacker. This encryption is called secure socket layer (SSL) or transport layer security (TLS). Most cloud based storage services offer a minimum of 128-bit encryption, a level that has not yet been hacked. This is the same level of encryption used by payment gateways to enable secure financial transactions.
Storage
Even if your data reaches the storage server securely, there is the problem of others being able to access it. Most third party storage services have multiple layers of security to prevent this. However, in the US, they are obliged to let law enforcement authorities access the data stored with them. Since, the law regarding privacy of such stored data changes with time, you should store only data that you are willing to let the enforcement authorities see.
Another potential breach of security can occur when others are able to use your PC or password to access the data you have stored online. To avoid this scenario it is best if you have a strong password that you change frequently. By not permitting your computer or browser to remember the password, you can reduce the chances of hacking.
Vigilance
As with other areas of the digital world, online or cloud storage is here to stay. The service providers are bound to enhance security, but the truly security conscious user can consider encrypting the files before storing. They can also stay alert to attempts at hacking by periodically checking when the last attempt to access the file was made.
By constantly using the latest technology to secure the data and by being vigilant, people can safely use cloud storage for personal and official purposes.
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