Mark James, ESET IT Security Specialist, discusses the merits of cloud storage and provides some general security tips, which anyone can employ.
We all want easy in this modern age, we associate advances with electronics with making things simpler for us, and very rarely look at the security risks involved when using these devices.
But security has to be the first thing we think about if we want to protect our current and future data from being exposed.
We are expected to hand over usernames, passwords, secret question answers and sometimes credit or financial data to access all manner of websites, but who is responsible for holding this data securely?
The company holding the data is ultimately responsible, they are in charge of IT infrastructure, personnel involved with security, and of course, the hardware and software used to store that information.
Their whole reputation balances on their ability to keep the data safe and secure, and you will find that the majority of data stolen from cloud servers is through lack of protection on our side not the vendors.
With so much of our data being held in the cloud we can take certain precautions to ensure it’s not able to be used elsewhere.
We have to take some responsibility. We need to always examine and evaluate what data is being uploaded by default, and ask ourselves do we really need to store this data in the cloud?
Checking what you upload and making sure you have a good password that you reset regularly, even once every two or three months, will help if your credentials are stolen from another site.
Ensure we use complex, unique passwords and check to see exactly what is being sent or stored in the cloud from your devices.
Password managers are great for storing passwords, meaning less to remember. Have a look at password managers that use two-factor authentication to protect the master password.
If using iCloud, enable Apples two-factor authentication to protect your data whenever you sign in from a new device or use services like icloud.com, iMessage, etc. or make payments from a new device.
Make sure your software is always up to date and ensure you use a good Internet security or anti-virus program to protect as many devices as possible. If they are mobile devices try where possible to have anti-theft software installed so you can lock or wipe any that are lost or stolen.
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