Whether you like it or not, your information is moving online. Through cloud technology, regardless of the software that people use, more and more data, both sensitive and informal, is making its way to clouds. No matter how you twist it, the Cloud is simply a way of accessing your stored data online wherever you may have an internet connection. This online storage puts you and your data at risk, which could leave you with a world of hurt if someone is able to access your information. Like all other activities we do online, there are ways to protect your cloud data from hacking, including some of these tips.
Keep Your Data Local as Well as Online
One of the biggest problems that people face is their data simply being erased from the Cloud that they keep their information on. Generally, most people are smart enough to make their clouds only hold informal data such as reports in write-ups. Either way, make sure that you keep backup of your data locally on another computer. Clouds, just like any other computer technology, run the risk of giving you problems, and if the data is lost and you haven’t backed things up, you’re going to regret it.
Make Your Passwords Hard to Guess
Sure the combination of numbers and letters in your password is supposed to make your cloud difficult to access, but if your password is “Password123” then you’re going to earn yourself some problems. Make sure that your password is difficult to figure out, and sometimes, even difficult for you to remember. You can always recover your password if you forget it, but if someone else gets a hold of it, your data may be lost forever.
Never Login Through Social Networks
Every site in the world uses some form of social media marketing to promote its product or service, and clouds are no different. Unfortunately, using these services not only creates another loophole into possibly accessing your cloud, but if you have more than one service that you use, then all it would take would be your password to such a social media site to access multiple sources of data that you’re using. Rather than taking this route, log in directly through the cloud services and leave the social side of things out of it.
Consider a Thumb Drive
Obviously, the only true way to absolutely protect your data from cloud theft is to keep it off of the cloud altogether. Thumb drives are a great way to keep your data portable, but make sharing it quite difficult. Not the best solution, but the only way to truly protect your data from online theft.
