How to Stay Safe With Cloud Storage – Log Me Once

 

 

Online file storage is a booming industry with companies such as Dropbox and Carbonite boasting millions of new customers over the past several years. The popularity of cloud storage is no surprise. It is also not surprising that security concerns plague the industry.

 

With high profile hacking attempts on companies as large as Sony, it is perfectly understandable to wonder if online file storage really is all that safe. The cloud will never be as safe from hackers as locking things in a fireproof safe at the bank, but there are certain precautions that you can take to protect your digital assets.

 

 

1. Choose the right provider

 

The best thing you can do to keep your files safe in the cloud is to choose the right storage provider. Some storage companies simply have better records for safety than others.

 

For example, Dropbox has suffered from several major security breaches over the years. SpiderOak, on the other hand, has maintained a perfect record for safety over that time.

 

There are two things to look for in a storage provider. First, look for a zero-knowledge backup provider. Zero-knowledge backup means that the company keeps such strict security standards that not even employees of the company can get into your data.

 

The second thing to look for is encryption. Make sure that your file storage provider encrypts files before transmission and during transmission. Modern encryption methods are unbreakable by even the most powerful computers.

 

Both Backblaze and SpiderOak meet these security standards. Backblaze is designed as an unlimited backup provider, while SpiderOak is designed as a file syncing tool. You can took a look at either website to determine which storage provider best fits your needs.

 

 

2. Encrypt before you upload

 

No matter who you choose for cloud storage, you'll have to place a little trust in them. Even if they promise the best security standards in the world, you still have to trust that what they say is true. If you have particularly sensitive information and you don't want to take even the smallest risk, you can encrypt your files yourself before you upload them.

 

Keep your files wherever you have already stored them. LogMeOnce works great with iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon, and OneDrive among many others (see our complete list).

 

But avoid being vulnerable on third party systems. Instead, protect your files by encrypting them all with your own password and AES key.

 

LogMeOnce automatically detects your installed cloud providers and adds them to your personal drive. Every file you add to – or create within – will be encrypted.

 

LogMeOnce Cloud Encrypter gives you peace of mind with the convenience of online cloud storage.

 

It's actually not all that hard to encrypt files on your own. All you have to do is head over to TrueCrypt.org and download the free software. The website also has simple tutorials that show you, step by step, how to encrypt folders and files using TrueCrypt.

 

By encrypting files yourself at home, you know for a fact that those files have been fully encrypted. Additionally, you are the only person with the encryption key. Even if the government orders your storage provider to hand over all your information, the only thing they would get is a bunch of encrypted gibberish.

 

 

3. Back Up Your Backups

 

No matter how many security precautions you take, there is always a little risk in storing things online. Hurricanes can wipe out data centers and hackers can shut down large swaths of the internet. For that reason, I recommend keeping more than one backup on hand.

 

You can store one set of backups in the cloud and one set on an external hard drive at home. The odds of anything happening to both backups are very low. This provides maximum security without costing an arm and a leg.

 

 

Moving From Tape Backup to Cloud Storage?

 

The cost of storing and backing up information and data online has reduced dramatically within the past few years. As a result, many businesses and organizations are addressing the methods they use for remote offsite backup up and safely storing data.

 

If you are considering moving to cloud storage encryption for your business, here are a few things you should ponder before making the move.

 

 

Security Risks

 

If you use online data storage, the data is transmitted through an encrypted network to a secured collection repository. While this may eliminate many security risks that are associated with tape storage and backup, one should reflect what is in store for the future when it comes to cyber criminal activity and cloud storage.

 

 

Recovery Time

 

Recovering data through cold or warm backup sites can take a significant amount of time. Online data recovery can be instantly transferred without much down time which used to be associated with retrieving and loading tape backups.

 

 

Reliability

 

While there's lots of ways that tape backups can fail and become insecure, cloud storage provides unmatched reliability due to the hard drives are configured with a redundant array of independent disks (RAID) which stores the data on multiple hard disks. By placing data on multiple hard disks, operations can interact with each other in a more balanced way which improves reliability and performance.

 

With tape style backup configurations, the upload speeds are slower than online storage backup which limits the quantity of data you can backup in one day. Higher end cloud storage services offer faster upload options which permit organizations to backup more data on a daily basis.

 

 

Cost

 

With tape backup storage, companies and organizations have the expense of added hardware, maintenance, personnel, as well as offsite storage. With online data storage, companies can access storage for as little as $1 per gigabyte of storage space.

 

 

Automatic Backup

 

Instead of dealing with all of the hassles involved with tape backups, companies can simply map the cloud storage to a location on their server which allows data backup to be automated with no user interaction with the backup process.

 

While cloud storage provides an easier way to backup and store sensitive data in a more cost effective way, before moving to this process of storage it is necessary to investigate the cloud storage provider to get out what security measures they have in place for storing and encrypting data, as well as if they enforce strict policies on who has access to the data. It is also important to review their reputation and track record with other companies and organizations that use their cloud storage services. Learn more