Cloud Security: Part 2

Many small business owners have found significant savings by moving their company’s data to the cloud in these challenging economic times.  Business owners can save money on hardware, such as workstations and servers, as well as software licensing by utilizing hosted cloud computing.  Nonetheless, the cloud can seem be a bit questionable when it comes to security.  However, data stored on the cloud may be even more secure than if it were stored on a machine located in the office.  Protecting yourself and your data can be as simple as applying some common sense practices.

Password issues

Password protection is an important issue when dealing with the cloud as well as personal computers.  Passwords can often be easily guessed or they are shared too freely.

Carefully select passwords to your projects stored in the cloud.  The more complex your passwords are the more challenging they are to guess.  A good way to achieve this is to use a combination of numbers and letters in your passwords.  Also, you shouldn’t share these passwords anyone.

Hacker alert

Hackers, malware, and spyware are issues for everyone who owns a computer.  Similarly, they are serious issues for cloud environments.  As a user of a third party cloud storage service, you do not have control over the security of the cloud which could be very distressing for business owners.  Data centers utilize high-end enterprise-class equipment that provides your business with a far superior level of security than you can affordably achieve with computer equipment stored at your premises. 

Common sense protection

Business owners must remain cautious about who they allow access to their cloud-stored data, documents, and reports.  Owners are mindful about whom they allow to access the files on their desktops and laptops and they should be equally careful when it comes to granting others access to their cloud-hosted information.