Could cloud computing lead to more data breaches and Identity theft? The growing trend of document being stored and created on provider’s servers to be accessed from anywhere has become a topic of security discussions for some time now. Could this trend drive up the amount of data breaches we see in the media.
For those of you who don’t know, cloud computing refers to the use of web applications and storage. Creating documents on the web is something that has become popular for some time now. With providers like Google Docs and now the New Windows Live Documents providing enticing way to create and share documents with other people with a simple web browser. It’s great for productivity but is it good for security.
With a recent study showing that 1 out of 5 business use Google docs to store and create documents; what does this mean for the security of those documents. I am not implying that a company would store a customer database on a cloud like setting but what about referring to customer information in shared documents.
Where are your files stored when you use a cloud like service? It’s hard to tell might be a server on the other side of the world that stores your data. Is their security as good as a homeland server? We hope so but how do we know.
Service providers are subject to external audits, but are they good enough to protect your data? Some providers refuse to undergo such an audit and these service should really only be used for trivial functions.
Outside the corporate threat what information have you saved on a cloud like service? Have you checked out the security policy and made sure they undergo audits of their security measures. What about where their information is stored. Do you know the server location where your private information is stored? I would encourage you to inform yourself of these things and make good decisions on what you store on external servers.
