With increasing Digital Data usage it has become essential to store data securely in the Cloud. The use cases for this may vary starting from storing huge data from your computer to the cloud, storing important data like your legal documents, family photos and videos to the cloud or even sharing of sensitive data that you have uploaded to the cloud.
For desktop users, it’s easier to access data remotely with cloud while for mobile users it saves a lot of internal storage by uploading data to the cloud and they can access their data from anywhere. While cloud storage usage is growing from individuals and businesses, there is a need to secure your data in the cloud storage. One does not want to trade the convenience of access with data leakage or unauthorized usage.
Most of the cloud storage providers will have their own mechanism to secure, encrypt and safeguard your data. Since the data is not stored locally it is always better to be safe than sorry, when it comes to securing your data in the cloud. The data is yours and you need to take all possible steps to ensure that it is safe and protected in the cloud service you have chosen to upload your files to.
So here are the Dos and Don’ts to secure your data in any cloud storage
Dos
- Select the most reliable cloud storage services like Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, One Drive and Amazon etc. These cloud storage providers have a long standing reputation and are fully committed to providing maximum security for your data.
- Set up two-factor authentication to log in to your account. Here an OTP (One Time Passcode) will be sent to the registered mobile phone. These passcodes have a quick expiry ensuring no misuse and the passcode will be sent to your phone, which is highly secure.
- Select services that store your data with 256-bit encryption or encrypt data with the use of secure third party services and then upload to the cloud. This will ensure that your files cannot be downloaded and viewed from any outside source or hacker website. This way, even if someone got hold of your files, they will not be able to view the contents in the file. This type of encryption gives you highest security and peace of mind.
- If you are using any multi-cloud management or cloud transfer services like CloudFuze make sure those services offer OAuth authentication method. OAuth is the most secure way to communicate between SaaS Apps and they usually transfer unique tokens between the services to authenticate rather sharing your username or password via the internet.
- Ensure that the cloud transfer service you are using does not store your files in their local storage or even as temporary files on their servers. Such services should only store your file metadata.
- Do a timely audit on your files across all your cloud storage services to make sure they are not shared unnecessarily or any old shares are still active. Unnecessary file sharing can cause insecure and unintended access.
- Move data from unsecured clouds to secure clouds using cloud file transfer solutions like CloudFuze. Storing all your files in secure clouds will eliminate the risk totally.
Don’ts
- Don’t forget to log out of your account every time you shut down your device. Sometimes you may not log out properly and your sessions may be active with your cloud storage service and this may enable others to access your cloud storage accounts.
- You should also never store passwords in clear text in a file or somewhere in your computer. Use a password manager to store and create complex passwords to make all your accounts secure.
- Generate memorable passwords using online tools like this – this will ensure you have an easy to remember the password at the same time it is fairly complex for a bot to crack.
- Don’t share important files as a public share, since they will be exposed to everyone. Private shares are restricted to the designated recipients and recommended for safer file sharing.
- Don’t use services that do not offer good authentication process like two-factor authentication, tight password controls or OAuth authentication.
- Don’t visit unsecured websites or hacked websites from your browser or computer, which is used to access your cloud storage data.
- Don’t connect to unknown Wi-Fi networks from your computer. Conversely, always secure your Wi-Fi with a password.
- Don’t forget to conduct timely audit logging on your cloud storage services for tighter control. This logging information will usually provide all the details about who logged into the account and from where etc., which can help you to make sure your accounts are safe.
- In this information age, our pictures, music, videos, and documents are everything in our life. Securing our files and information in widely used cloud storage accounts is key to productivity and peace of mind.
Ram Bayisett is the head digital marketing of CloudFuze,Inc. an organization founded with the goal of leading the next phase in the evolution of cloud storage and document and file management. His aim is to enable individuals, companies and software developers to connect to and reap the benefits of the expanded set of file management and storage options without the need to deal with their complexities. Cloudfuze aim to provide a cleaner,simpler way to migrate, secure and manage all your assets.