Cloud services such as Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive, Microsoft Skydrive and iCloud fetch our precious data back and forth from remote Internet servers. The concept itself is so handy and convenient that we barely think about numerous side effects of this ongoing “cloudophilic” trend. Is our data safe in the cloud? Where is it located? And who can access it?
Internet-folk started using cloud services way before the term was coined a couple of years ago. Researchers track its roots to as early as 1996, but it became a commonly-used term in the past two years.
Of course, email, an example of cloud storage, has been around for several decades. But we treated our emails more seriously than a number of modern cloud services. People now throw really sensitive data on their virtual drives without any hesitation. And we are becoming less careful about backups; why bother if it’s in the cloud already?
Clouds are not perfect. Who is responsible, or liable, for any problems on their side? If you skim through user agreements you won’t find any serious liability on service holders.
Even more, are you positive that your cloud data is only seen by you? Come on, don’t be too optimistic. Be a bit paranoid.
One of Intel’s founding fathers, Andy Grove, named his book “Only the Paranoid Survive.” The book has a slightly different idea, but I really enjoyed the formula. He defines “paranoid” as someone who’s constantly asking questions and is never absolutely calm about his privacy, accessibility and integrity of his data. Those people definitely have a lot of things to worry about.
For example, outages. Recently, GoDaddy.com went offline for nearly a day, impacting millions of websites and emails. Skype has been down a couple of times. BlackBerry services have also experienced outages. Until we will create a way to ensure completely reliable systems (which right now looks very unlikely), we’ll need to do “grounded” backups. Don’t rely solely on the cloud; make a local copy when it’s appropriate – better safe than sorry.
Another big issue: who has access to your data? Dropbox explicitly states in their policy that “we may use certain trusted third party companies and individuals to help us provide, analyze, and improve the Service…these third parties may have access to your information”. Evernote “may share your information with others outside of Evernote under [eight] following circumstances.” Of course, these cloud service providers may have good intentions, but who knows what those “trusted third parties” will do. It isn’t just your data anymore – there are numbers of system administrators and that style folk looking from the other side. If you have something really sensitive – be sure to encrypt that (though make sure it isn’t illegal as you cannot store unlawful stuff in most clouds).
And the third question: who’s responsible for what happens to your data? If a technical error accidentally deletes your precious data, Dropbox or Evernote or most any other provider won’t be liable. They try to avoid this, obviously, but if problems arise, it’ll be hard to sue some damages out of them. Especially if you aren’t paying for the service.
The cloud is a great utility, but always be prepared for a storm. Ask questions. Be mindful of sensitive information and backup early, backup often – to the cloud and to the local storage.
Three key “CloudCare” takeaways:
1. Do not store critical data solely in the cloud. Always create local copies, or at least use multiple clouds. And never store sensitive data in the cloud without encryption.
2. Prepare a “data access” strategy in instances where you won’t be connected, especially when travelling. Download relevant info, prepare offline maps and save local copies of important documents beforehand.
3. Carefully read the terms and conditions of the services you use (Who actually owns your data? Who has access to it? Who bears liability when/if the data is lost? Stolen? etc.). Ask a lot of questions. Be paranoid.
Michael Leibel also contributed to this article.
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