Cloud computing has enriched our lives like never before; the internet, companies, and businesses that rely on the internet have revolutionized with the concept of cloud computing. People use plenty of apps and resources all day long such as Facebook, WhatsApp, and whatnot, and all of these things are provided to them via cloud computing in which they are using the resources of the cloud. The same goes for the businesses that rely on the cloud, they outsource all of their digital operations to the cloud because it is cost-effective, less weary, more convenient, consistently upgrading and provides ease of access.
All members of the business or company directing to the different departments can use a simple medium which is the cloud to grab any resource they want to use. Now, not only business is conducted via the cloud with the help of apps and tools but all the sensitive data of the company also gets stored there. That is where the problem begins because a lot of it is outsourced that means you only have a little control when the server will go down or who else such as which third-party has access to it. As far as cloud computing and your data are concerned then anyone with the right credentials can have access to what is in there.
This is where hackers and cybercriminals come into play, by exploiting the security measures and authentication systems placed to guard the cloud from any intruders these criminals can get access to your essential data and exploit it in any way they want to. It gets darker because some of them which are more cunning would try to ransom that data by using ransomware technology or with the help of viruses or malware to take control of your company's other discreet systems say your network. That is why your privacy is endangered when using the cloud, it is better explained below;
Data Privacy and cloud computing
Can cloud computing affect privacy?
You bet it can and in ways that you can’t even begin to fathom. In cloud computing, the data of the user is pretty much stored in any storage device available at the moment such as in servers, PC, laptops, mobile phones, or some other varietals. If at any given point the security of the system gets compromised then that particular node or device becomes vulnerable thus putting the stability and safety of the customer’s or user’s data at stake. This is where hackers come in because they can exploit such vulnerabilities can use them to their particular advantage.
Your privacy is only secured to the extent of a vase falling on a marble floor, now it is your responsibility to put carpet or some other shock absorber on the ground to protect the vase. The same goes for your data, you have to encrypt it and throw in a few other security mechanisms to make sure that it remains untouched within the cloud.
How to ensure privacy in the cloud?
There are plenty of ways to do so, you can ensure that the data or information you share within the cloud is secured and properly contained by following a number of ways. Some of them might direct to the compliance which your organization has established and launched with the rest of the departments while other security settings can be updated within the cloud. However, if you want to make sure that your privacy is not hurt while using cloud computing then you need to direct your attention to the following few things;
Locally backing up your data
Some of you might think that they don’t need to make a copy of their data locally because they have outsourced it to the cloud. It is an extremely wrong assumption, even if you have left the complete reigns of security to the cloud you still should at least make a single or multiple copies locally to make sure that when something goes south with the cloud you would still have all your valuable data with you. This is the utmost priority and rule of working with the cloud, to make sure that you have a local backup of all your sensitive, user, and corporate data.
Encrypt your data before storing in the cloud
You need to make sure that you are giving zero leverage to the hackers or cybercriminals by taking away the liberty of making the extraction of your data easy. That is why it is advised that you heavily encrypt it before you leave it within the cloud. You can put a password on the file that is unique and long and contains special characters too if allowed by the cloud to make sure that it would take them a lifetime to crack this. If you don't know how to do it yourself or lack the proper setting then you can always use the cloud-based apps that will do it for you. Advanced encryption standards AES 256-bit encryption technology should be used for the optimum results.
Read user agreement of the cloud service you are using
The next thing that you should be trying is to make sure that you have read the user agreement of the cloud service provider you are using, just to be extra cautious and not leaving any loopholes behind. Within their user agreement, they would have promptly shared with the user all the narrow details they want such as how their data is stored and how they interpret the data as well.
This will fill you in with all the details such as whether or not your data is being shared with third-party vendors, if you don’t feel comfortable with your data being shared with these third-party visitors then you can always leave your current cloud service provider and look for a new one. The only thing that matters is to choose some cloud provider that retains your data the best it can be stored and protected.
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