How safe is the cloud? And can you trust it?

Apetech Website: https://www.apetech.me/social  Voicemail - Call me!! https://anchor.fm/apetech/message Email: [email protected]  Twitter:  @apetechda Hello, and welcome to another episode of Cyber Security For All podcast.  A podcast all about cyber security from Apetech.  I’m your host, Alex and today we are going to be talking about the cloud.  Specifically, is it safe and can you trust it? I personally use cloud services to store some of my personal data.  And it seems that more and more businesses are running to the cloud because it allows them to cut down on infrastructure expenses. They can also get away with charging a monthly fee which guarantees that business a steady stream of income every month.  Every cloud service provider is different and you should be aware of a few things when it comes to safety and trust. First, let’s talk about trust.  Every business, no matter what type of business they are in should strive to earn their customer’s trust.  A business that fails to do that will not fare well long term.  When thinking about the cloud, big names such as Apple, Amazon, Google and Microsoft come to mind.  There are other key players like Box, Dropbox, and Adobe.  All of these companies create products that basically require you to utilize a cloud in order to use their services.  In my opinion, you should trust but be overly cautious about everything you store on the cloud.  I believe that these companies do go to great lengths to keep your data safe and thus you should trust them. But, what you cannot trust is always having access to your data.  Data that you store in the cloud doesn’t actually belong to you.  It is stored on a remote server and a cloud provider could shut down services or just eliminate something that you used to use.  In a matter of weeks, all your information could disappear.  Because of this, I would say, you can typically trust cloud providers to keep your data safe and secure, but you shouldn’t trust them to keep your data long term.  Always have a backup plan for your precious data. Now, let’s talk about safety.  Is the cloud safe?  Should you store your personal information there?  This depends all on how good of an internet user you personally are.  Companies try their best to combat the latest cyber security threats, but their protection systems are only as good as your password hygiene.  If you have a bad password, or if you fall victim to a social engineering attack, then it doesn’t matter how safe a cloud service is, an attacker will be able to obtain your personal data because simply put, they’ll have access to your password.  Most companies are getting a little smarter about their password security and many encrypt their databases that contain passwords.  Some companies offer two factor authentication which add a second layer of protection to their cloud services. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/apetech/support