Feels like we’re just putting all our stuff out there with a bow on it for a hacker. 🤷♀️
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The cloud is “safe” in the same way your money is “safe” at a bank. It’s not.
If your computer blows up and is stolen, then your cloud stored data isn’t lost. Until it is because you forget the password or it is compromised.
Cloud is safe to the extent your passwords are secret.
Your money in the back is safe until bankers steal it.
It is not. No information storage is 100% safe, not even a note book. Anything outside of your memory can be copied.
It may or may not be safe, depending on how you define safe.
The primary use case of the cloud is that rather than having to host infrastructure yourself, you can pay another firm to do it for you. It may be as simple as having them to basic file storage, or it may be as complex as hosting entire virtual server farms, but the basic idea is the same – they host it for you and you can access it from any computer in exchange for a fee.
You also get a degree of data protection – typically files are hosted in multiple data centers, so if there is an issue in one (natural disaster, hardware failure) your data remains protected. So, much “safter” as far as data retention and data loss goes.
Now, this does mean that nefarious people have more entry points to your data – both virtual and physical. This can be combatted somewhat via encryption and strong TOTP authenticaion, but it is inherently less secure than a on-premise data server you run. For that reason, many industries are reluctant to move to the cloud (healthcare, financial services).
its not any safer than anywhere else.
the turth of “the Cloud” is that its being stored somewhere, just not locally. it’s safety is entirely reliant on the security policy of whoever is hosting that storage.
in fact to keep information safer, you’d want it entirely out of the network and the physical media being secured away from physical tampering.tho arguably this would make it impossible ot access aswell.
Technically, *it’s not*…
Source; long time SaaS/PaaS Operations Engineer… And I sincerely worry about the future of cloud computing with “today’s engineers” (TLDR; The industry STILL focuses on time to delivery, rather than quality / reproducibility of code).
I’d say it’s even worse. Storing stuff in a cloud is like storing your stuff in someone else’s garage. No matter how secure that garage is against intruders, it is still someone else’s garage, and the owner will always have full access to it.
This depends on how you define “safe.” Saying something is “in the cloud” is another way of saying “it’s on someone else’s computer.” So your information is only as secure as their computer, and your access method — if you’ve got a weak password, or their security systems are poorly set up, or it’s possible for someone to physically access and steal the computer or copy all the data on it, your information isn’t secure at all.
Depends on where you host those, plenty datacenters are just crazy about customer data to the point that replacing 1 HDD can take an hour because of that.
But that’s from DC, the site where you host your file also have security risks.
The cloud is just a bunch of computers located in a central location. Many cloud providers, such as AWS, give you all the knobs and levers to manage your own security. Misconfiguring your account can make it incredibly insecure, but that doesn’t mean the cloud is inherently insecure.
Think of it like renting a garage at a storage facility. The facility gives you a place to store your belongings and they give you a key so you can come and go as you please. If you don’t lock the door on your way out then your belongings aren’t as protected as they would be had you locked the door.
Now, is storing your belongings in someone else’s garage inherently less safe if your stored it in your own? That depends. What are you doing to protect your garage from thieves? What if you had so many belongings that you had to build another shed, garage, or warehouse? What are you doing to protect those?
There are more factors in deciding to use the cloud than just data security. But, fundamentally, you’re paying for expertise. Your paying someone that knows how to build inherently safe storage facilities; someone that will ensure an intrusion is quickly and appropriately dealt with: and someone that ensures the security of the building abides by best practices and uses current technology.
There are portions of the cloud that need ultra-high security; an example would be government entities. Cloud providers offer dedicated services for these customers. So in the example of storage facilities this would be like storing your belongings inside Fort Knox.
Long story short — the cloud is as safe as you want it to be and is arguably more safe than the computer sitting in your closet.
If you rent your own server and put your data there, it is fairly safe as long as you know how to secure it from remote access.
But if you trust Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, or others with your data by giving it to them to store for you, it is not safe. They will mine and sell your data as much as is legally allowed in your country. Comcast SUED to prevent Mozilla from providing secure DNS so Comcast couldn’t see what sites you visit. Most companies are mining every bit of data about you they can get, so handing them more isn’t going to change their minds.
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