Cloud storage is a great way to back up your important files. It keeps your pictures, Word files, and even game backups safe from things like local flooding, fires, even vandals because your important information is not stored locally where it can be harmed. 

Potential Problems with Some Cloud Storage Services

But what happens to your files if your cloud storage service gets hacked? Or if their company’s files are confiscated by officials? Or … or… just fill in the blank here with the worst possible scenario that could happen to your information.

Encryption Can Help 

The answer to many of these problems is encryption. Some cloud storage facilities do not encrypt anything – your files are uploaded in their natural state, and they remain so. Other facilities, such as Folderit encrypt all the information entrusted to them, and then they back it up three times, just to make sure that there is a good copy available in case something does happen to one of them. 

Encrypt before Uploading

Even having a cloud storage that encrypts their files might not be enough for some confidential or extremely sensitive files. Medical or financial information might come under this heading. For files that are exceptionally confidential, it is possible to encrypt them before they are uploaded. This means that the documents are encrypted and perhaps even zipped before they are placed in the cloud storage. If the storage facility also encrypts files, this could mean that the files will be encrypted twice. 

Recommended Practices

With that said, a Windows Central article by Cale Hunt recommends that you encrypt your data before you upload it to a cloud service. The article explains that SSL protects your data while it is in transit and that some cloud services protect data while it is in a resting state, but should someone make it past the cloud service’s defenses they can go straight to your data. If it includes items like photos that you use for identification, last four numbers of your credit or debit card, or similar information it can give hackers a quick “in” to access your personal information – possibly including your financial information. 

The Folderit Advantage

With that said, not all cloud systems are created equal. For example, Folderit does encrypt all files stored with it. More than that, you can assign access credentials to folders so that only the people who have permissions for a folder can access the contents. That’s two layers of protection for your data for the price of one program. And, of course, materials being uploaded and downloaded are protected with SSL connections. 

Who Will Have the Power of Your Information?

In our current information age, knowledge really is power. We often think of knowledge in terms of how to sew on a button or how to repair a car, but information about private financial accounts, credit cards, and more is a different kind of power. When in the hands of the owner, such items have only the power to help you run your life smoothly. But should that information fall into the wrong hands (any hands but yours) it gives the wrongful holder the power to disrupt the orderly flow of your financial or even your personal life. 

Power to Advertisers

Sometimes it isn’t hackers or digital thieves who want your information. It might be businesses who want to know what you buy and how you buy it because buying trends can drive purchasing and selling of merchandise, provision of services, and even opportunities for jobs.

Preventative Measures

By now, most people know that they should be mindful of what they post in social media, and that gossip online can create some pretty sad situations. But we forget sometimes just how important it is to protect passwords, to use unique passwords for each service accessed, and to encrypt any information that is even remotely sensitive.

Best Business Practices Best Prevention 

Folderit affords users the best business practices model for information storage, including encryption. No digital storage system in the world is perfectly secure, but our system does provide ways to place protection around your essential business information. By encrypting all information in our system, and by allowing you, the user, to set access protocols for specific folders, we make it just a little bit easier for you. 

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