There are many benefits to keeping your files in the cloud. Rather than storing hundreds of photos on your hard drive, taking up valuable space on your computer and slowing its system down, you can back them up to the cloud instead. Even files like our bank statements and confidential business information can be stored in the cloud these days. But should we be putting this sensitive information there? How can we ensure our data is kept safe?
We’ve come up with five simple tips to help you keep your information secure.
1. Have sensitive data? Don’t store it in the cloud
If you have sensitive information that should never be access by anyone but yourself, try not to store it in the cloud – use an external hard drive instead. Keep this hard drive in a secure place in your house, like your safe or a fire proof box. Whilst cloud storage is very secure, if someone guesses your password; access my be compromised. This takes us to the next tip…
2. Take your password seriously
Most simple passwords are cracked in seconds. Make sure you update your password regularly and use a mix of numbers, capital letters and special characters. Avoid passwords that are easy to remember – as these are often easy to crack. Don’t use the same password in multiple places, such as your email, Facebook page and cloud service.
3. Check the fine print
Make sure you investigate how your cloud service works and ask the provider any questions you might have. It’s a boring task but we often face security and privacy risks when we are lazy and don’t take the time to choose a provider that is right for us.
4. Learn to encrypt your data
If you want to protect your data and make it even more secure, password protect certain files. For example, compress a bunch of data into a zip folder and then create a password for access to the file (data encryption). You can use free tools from to help you compress large numbers of files at once such as Winrar. If you do password protect your files, make sure you never forget or lose the password.
5. Choose a cloud service that’s encrypted
You could always go one step further and use a cloud service that has local encryption so you can store your files with added security. This means not even the administrators or the service providers of the cloud will be able to access your files.
We hope these five steps have given you more confidence for securely storing your data in the cloud. If you need further assistance with your cloud storage solution, please do not hesitate to contact us.
