It is very easy to know where a file goes when you save it to your personal computer. It lives inside your physical hard drive, it may be housed in a folder that you have created manually. That particular file is only stored on your personal computer, unless you choose to email it to him or save it to an external portable hard drive like USB.
Cloud storage has finally become the norm and has ceased to top the charts for new technology trends as it has matured into mainstream in 2018.
However, as with all types of technology, be it virtual or physical, IT professionals around the world have warned of the security risks associated with using cloud storage services. Today, security is the only concern with the non-adoption of cloud storage as the primary file sharing service. There are various uncertainties or risks related to third party cloud storage service, here are 3 of them to focus on.
Loss of control over data: With cloud services such as Microsoft Azure, Dropbox, Google Drive, I Cloud, etc. By becoming a regular part of life, people are faced with newer security issues, such as checking data integrity, almost every day. The problem here is that when you use a third-party file-sharing service, the data is originally transferred from your personal computer to a remote server. Which implies that the data privacy settings are out of the reach of whoever uploaded the file. Since most cloud service providers generally emphasize real-time backup, most of the time, data that was not meant to be shared can end up being uploaded to the cloud. The most effective way to reduce this risk is to ensure that your cloud service provider automatically encrypts your file when backing up within the 128 to 256-bit range. End-to-end encryption will help protect your file with crypto so that an unauthorized person at the other end cannot see it.
Kidnapping / Snooping online: Files uploaded to the cloud are among the most susceptible to being hacked without proper measures. The fact that anytime or anywhere you transfer the data over the internet has become a security risk as hackers can intercept the data packet. The best way to avoid this is to protect or encrypt your file locally first and then upload it to the cloud. You can use software like Cryptomator to encrypt your files. It uses state-of-the-art encryption points that protect the file before uploading it. However, you have to remember that you have to memorize the paraphrase or else you won’t even be able to recover the files you are uploading in the future. So is the cloud still secure in 2018? It is not safe enough.
Well, more terrifying things will occur to me in the second part of the article. Until then, make sure you are browsing safely and if you need help doing so please comment below. Stay safe, stay alert.
