Have you ever laid around and looked at the sky? You may see one cloud become an elephant and you ask your friend looking at the same cloud, and sees a giraffe.
Just like the ones in the sky, the internet is all about perspective.
To one person, it may be where they store all their pictures or school assignments. To someone else, it’s how they operate their entire business. Whether it be Public, Private, Hybrid , there’s little dispute that it’s cloudy out there with a forecast of more clouds to come.
The possibilities are endless.
Here’s how you can enjoy the benefits of cloud computing with the security of a private network:
1. Choose the Right Cloud
There are a lot of cloud services out there and the number of choices will only continue to grow. This means that your cloud security is only as good as the company maintaining your data. Since you obviously don’t have the ability to physically audit your cloud provider, you are basically taking their word for it. Things to consider when you’re choosing a cloud provider: firewalls, anti-virus detection, multi-factor user authentication and data encryption. When choosing a cloud provider, make sure you are completely informed on who in the company has access to your data while it resides in the cloud.
2. Avoid storing Sensitive Information in the Cloud
Many recommendations across the internet sound like this: “Don’t keep your information on the cloud”. Fair enough, but it’s the same as if you asked, “How not to get my house broken into?” and the answer would be, “Don’t have a house.” The logic is solid, but a better, more practical way of stating this would be to “avoid storing sensitive information on the cloud”. Things like personal health information, tax documents and personal billing information are items that you might want to think of storing elsewhere.
3. Be serious about your passwords
You must have heard this warning about 100 times but still, most people don’t adhere to it. Did you know that 90 per cent of all passwords can be cracked within seconds?
Indeed!
A great part of all the sad stories about someone’s account being hacked into is caused by an easy to create password like password and 12345. In fact, your weak password could be your biggest security issue. Try following these rules:
- Pick a password that consists of at least 8 characters
- Use a capital letter and a number to complicate things a bit
- Replace a password with a phrase
The last tip is perhaps the most helpful. While we tend to forget random jumbles of letters and words, it’s easier to remember a phrase that is unique to your friends and family.
