Are Cloud Storage Safe?

Since the epidemic began, individuals have undergone a tremendous digital change, made possible in large part by the development of cloud storage. By 2029, the worldwide market, currently valued at $83.41 billion, is expected to grow to $376.37 billion.

Let's be mindful of the difficult hazards associated with cloud storage, even if it offers several potential benefits, such as improving productivity and expediting procedures.

A recent data breach in the State of Maine affected 1.3 million people or nearly the entire state's population. The attack used a well-known vulnerability in the cloud service MOVEit Transfer. As a consequence, the Maine Departments of Education and Health and Human Services had their data taken.

This tragedy emphasizes the importance of knowing how to secure oneself online and the hazards associated with cloud storage. In this knowledge base, we will learn whether and how cloud storage is safe! Let’s get started!

What is Cloud Storage?

The online storing of data on distant servers is referred to as cloud storage. This data may be retrieved from any location with an Internet connection since it can be accessible over the Internet.

Because it enables users to access and share saved data from any device and anywhere, cloud storage has grown in popularity as an alternative to local hard drives and other physical storage devices.

Is cloud storage safe?

Saying alone that "cloud storage is safe" is insufficient. To understand why that is the case, we need to take a closer look at how it's all put together.

First, let’s demystify the cloud itself. Though it seems like a fairly esoteric word, the truth is luckily much simpler: the cloud is just an internet-based network of servers with enormous quantities of storage. A couple of examples include Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. Some data is even stored on Amazon and Google servers via Apple's iCloud service..

The data centres where those servers are kept are designed with security in mind. Although employees' access to servers and their hard drives is severely limited, there are several more safeguards in place to help guarantee that your images, movies, and other data are protected from prying eyes, hackers, and even physical harm from fire.

Regarding the latter, in order to decrease the risk of fires, many data centres lower the air's oxygen content. In addition, the majority of cloud services keep several copies of each file, usually in separate data centres, so that even in the worst case scenario, a backup exists in a different physical place. This is helpful if you're concerned about hard drive or SSD failure.

For example, Google divides its data among several servers located in various places. In the event of a fire or other disruption at one site, data access is immediately shifted to another location. One of Google's data facilities is seen here:

Therefore, is cloud storage safe, and if so, to what extent? The first question has a clear and affirmative response. This tutorial will describe what makes the cloud secure, provide advice on how to protect your data, and highlight features of secure cloud computing solutions.

Redundancy

Having many backups of your data instead of just one is a major benefit of keeping it on the cloud. You must keep in mind that any data you put in the cloud is stored on physical servers in order to comprehend why this is significant.

Files that you submit to your cloud storage account are immediately duplicated among several servers located in different data centres around the United States and maybe even the globe. Hence, identical copies of your data are kept in several places with just one transmission.

In order to guarantee the security of your data, this redundancy is essential. Your data is still accessible on other servers in the event of an unplanned server failure. A duplicate of your data is kept on a server in another data centre, even in the event that a fire or earthquake completely destroys the data centre.

Prominent providers additionally make sure that every duplicate of the data is available in case you require it by regularly verifying its integrity. Because of how successful this system is, Amazon Web Services calculates that there is only a one in 100 billion risk that your data will be lost in the cloud.

Without the cloud, it is almost hard to create a data redundancy solution that is as effective. Even if you had identical hard drives in many US locations, how would you manage to synchronise data between them each time you made changes to a file?

One of the most frequent ways that data loss occurs is physical disc destruction, which may be effectively prevented using cloud storage.

24/7 monitoring

The fact that cloud networks are monitored almost continuously adds to the security of cloud storage. Prominent cloud storage companies have specialised operations centres manned by cybersecurity specialists around-the-clock. These teams have the resources to keep hackers away and are always on the lookout for digital dangers to their cloud storage infrastructure.

Moreover, software teams at cloud storage companies are always on the lookout for vulnerabilities in their programmes. One of the most frequent weaknesses that hackers exploit to obtain unauthorised access to a network is missing security updates. The software teams of cloud providers proactively stress-test their own systems to find possible points of failure in addition to making sure that all software is patched to remove entry points.

Data center operators and cloud storage providers also take the physical security of the machines storing your data very seriously. Security personnel often monitor most data centres, and servers are frequently housed in lockable cages as an additional deterrent to theft.

Encryption

You should be the only one with the encryption key, and all data saved on the cloud should be encrypted. This is known as end-to-end or zero-knowledge encryption and is standard practice in the cloud storage sector.

Your data is encrypted under this encryption system even before it leaves your device. Files are delivered to your cloud storage space via the internet only when the encryption procedure is finished. Once they arrive, your cloud provider's servers store them encrypted while they are at rest.

This implies that no one can access the contents of your files or decode them, not even your cloud storage provider. Should your data be intercepted in transit to or from the cloud, the attacker will be unable to decrypt your files since they won't have the necessary information.

Conclusion

Maximum data security is a design feature of cloud storage from the ground up. Your files are encrypted and constantly scanned for cybersecurity risks when you save data in the cloud. Additionally, your data is duplicate-stored to guarantee that a copy will endure any disaster.

Still, in order to maintain the security of your cloud storage, you must take the necessary safety measures with your own devices. Make use of any extra security measures that your cloud storage provider offers and always enable two-factor authentication. See our post comparing the cloud storage security of some of the greatest providers to identify a top provider with the best security.