Storing information in the cloud provides a heightened level of convenience for both businesses and consumers – your data is accessible from anywhere, at any time. You don’t have to lug around a USB to meetings in order to share graphics and documents, and your photos are safe in storage where friends and family can access them. You won’t lose any of your important information should your hard drive fail.
An increasing number of telco companies are getting in on the action, providing telco cloud services for consumers as part of a standard package. Yet at the same time having this level of accessibility can be cause for concern when it comes to security measures, particularly if you’re storing confidential or financial documents. If you’re thinking about using the telco cloud, here are a few ways to keep your data safe.
- Compare telco cloud services carefully.
While security is undoubtedly a concern for all telco cloud providers, they may implement different procedures so it’s best to compare your options. If you’re simply looking for basic cloud storage, at the very least read the user agreement so that you understand what systems are put in place. Some providers will offer local encryption and decryption, which helps protect them. Think about the level of privacy you’ll need and find a provider that offers it, whether it’s a big telco name like Nokia Networks or a basic service from Google.
- Encrypt your data.
You can also encrypt your own data before storing it in the cloud. You can do this using software that allows you to create your own password for each file, so that no one else, not even the cloud provider, has access to it. If you have a high volume of files to encrypt it’s best to compress them into a zip file before creating a password. Look for open source encryption programs or free archivers to get started.
- Choose high security passwords.
Your encrypted files will only be as good as the password you use to protect them if the cloud service provider falls to a security breach. Be sure to choose a password that’s hard to guess, and change it frequently. It’s tempting to use the same password for all of your various accounts, but although this makes life easier for you it also makes it far easier for those who would want to gain access.
- Use two-factor authentication.
Add an extra level of protection to all of your online accounts by opting to use two-factor authentication. This requires you to put in a second code for the account in addition to a password, which is usually sent to your phone or a secondary email address. Most cloud services, such as iCloud and Dropbox offer this feature.
- Have a secondary cloud backup.
It’s tempting to think that cloud services are fool-proof, but they have the potential to go down just like any other internet-based application. If this happens, you won’t have access to your files and data during the time it takes to get the service back up and running. As a result, it’s a good idea to have both a local and backup location for your data.
