Security in the Cloud: Part 2
Business Technology | January 20, 2012
The cloud has been a blessing for small business owners battling through tough economic times. Rather than purchasing pricey enterprise software, business owners can save their dollars by accessing powerful computing programs in the cloud, from high-end word processors and project-management tools to spreadsheets and Photoshop alternatives. But, the cloud isn’t perfect, particularly when it comes to security issues. Entrepreneurs need to be aware that their documents, presentations, and marketing materials can be damaged when they’re stored in the cloud.
Password issues
The most significant security issue that business owners face when it comes to cloud computing happens to also be the biggest security issue that users also face with regards to computing: passwords which are either too easy to guess or shared too freely.
Business owners should be careful to choose passwords to their cloud projects which are challenging for others to guess. The best option is for owners to include a blend of letters and numbers in their passwords. Owners should also be cautious about sharing their passwords with too many people. The more people who have access to passwords, the more in danger important data and documents are.
Hacker alert
Hackers, malware, and spyware are issues for anyone who owns a computer. Likewise, they are serious issues for cloud environments. As a user of a third party cloud storage service, you don’t have control over the security of the cloud and this can be very alarming for business owners. Large companies must create their own security for the data that is stored in the cloud.
Common sense protection
As with all computing, companies can safeguard themselves from the loss or theft of data with some common-sense practices.
First, sensitive data may not be the best thing to store in the cloud. If your data is so sensitive that a compromise on its security could spell the demise of your business, think about saving it on a physical computing system and apply a secure back up protocol that is more controllable.
Secondly, be careful about who is allowed access to the data stored in the cloud. It seems obvious that business owners protect their laptops and desktops with passwords. The same should be applied to the cloud.
The cloud has been a blessing for small business owners battling through tough economic times. Rather than purchasing pricey enterprise software, business owners can save their dollars by accessing powerful computing programs in the cloud, from high-end word processors and project-management tools to spreadsheets and Photoshop alternatives. But, the cloud isn’t perfect, particularly when it comes to security issues. Entrepreneurs need to be aware that their documents, presentations, and marketing materials can be damaged when they’re stored in the cloud.
Password issues
The most significant security issue that business owners face when it comes to cloud computing happens to also be the biggest security issue that users also face with regards to computing: passwords which are either too easy to guess or shared too freely.
Business owners should be careful to choose passwords to their cloud projects which are challenging for others to guess. The best option is for owners to include a blend of letters and numbers in their passwords. Owners should also be cautious about sharing their passwords with too many people. The more people who have access to passwords, the more in danger important data and documents are.
Hacker alert
Hackers, malware, and spyware are issues for anyone who owns a computer. Likewise, they are serious issues for cloud environments. As a user of a third party cloud storage service, you don’t have control over the security of the cloud and this can be very alarming for business owners. Large companies must create their own security for the data that is stored in the cloud.
Common sense protection
As with all computing, companies can safeguard themselves from the loss or theft of data with some common-sense practices.
First, sensitive data may not be the best thing to store in the cloud. If your data is so sensitive that a compromise on its security could spell the demise of your business, think about saving it on a physical computing system and apply a secure back up protocol that is more controllable.
Secondly, be careful about who is allowed access to the data stored in the cloud. It seems obvious that business owners protect their laptops and desktops with passwords. The same should be applied to the cloud.