Why You Shouldn’t Store Data on the Cloud

Online security can be a challenge, and few know when they’re employing the best practices to stay safe. Practices like avoiding downloading a virus, or having your information at risk of being leaked or falling into the wrong hands. Now, more businesses and individuals keep their information stored on the cloud, and hackers have taken note and tried to expose flaws in cloud storage facilities. You should try to avoid storing your information on the cloud for the following reasons.

Ease of Access
This one goes both ways. While it may be easy to store your information online in order to have it wherever you end up going, it also means that it’s easier for hackers and other individuals to access that information if you forget to log off of a public computer or if someone whom you’ve shared a file with fails to practice online safety etiquette.

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It’s Out of Your Hands
What can be frustrating about cloud storage is that the data and files are often out of your hands. A personal hard drive enables you to better protect your information, and it gives you a physical copy that you can see. But keeping the information online means that you aren’t the one with control over your information. Should Google Drive be down, or hacked, the information you have stored in the cloud isn’t in your control. You’re only as strong as the companies your information is kept with.

Even If You Don’t Lose Your Information, It Can Be Viewed
As previously discussed, if your information is at risk of being out of your hands, and if the files that you have stored in the cloud are unavailable, what many consumers fail to understand is how your files can be viewed — and at risk — without being downloaded or stored anywhere else. Oftentimes, it’s possible for hackers to view files stored in the cloud, and copy down the information on their own, or make their own copy to have and keep. It is another subtle way that hackers can manipulate the cloud to get their hands on your information.

While storing your information on the cloud may be incredibly easy and allow you to share information readily, it can also be a tremendously risky endeavor. Make sure that, before you store sensitive information online, that you know the risk you’re taking and are prepared to suffer the consequences (if and when they should happen).