Storage forum: Poll: Do you trust cloud storage services to store your important data?

If this is a private or hybrid cloud, yes, I give it a certain amount of trust, but I also don't trust anything out on the Internet anyway. It also depends on what is is: vacation photos? recipes? yes. a new novel? a new non-fiction work? A complaint about why we should overthrow our government (hiya, DHS), no, of course not. Would I put out my biography? Probably not.

The "Golden Rule" is that, if you don't want people to see it, kepp it away from the Internet.

So how about the public clouds? This is the last time I'll say this (OK, maybe not): READ the PRIVACY Statement and the Terms of Service carefully. Will they guarantee your uploads and files are safe from anyone looking at them? Do they have machines or human beings reading them? Do they pass your information on to the government (like Tweets get sent to the Department of Homeland Security)? Do they say that you must have the full rights to your work with enough rights to give the cloud provider complete acces to your documents? Are you required to allow them to view, modify, abstract and even PUBLICLY DISPLAY your documents? Google says they need those rights to perform service for you. Do they really need that? Do you really want to give away those rights?

What about content? It's one thing to put your shopping list for your spose up there. It's another thing to put criminal records of celebrities on the service. It's also another thing if you are sharing personally identifiable information of a MEDICAL nature on the cloud. If the cloud provider can read all of your uploads, is that a HIPPA or HITECH violation? Those cost a lot of money. Remember, that many public clouds have been hacked. Google had their password software stolen. Dropbox was hacked and over 100 accounts had their data compromised.

So, my answer is that I would not use public clouds unless it is my data I don't care about (my blood sugar is generally in the range of 80-160 if you need to know) or maybe pictures of my cat.

It is not a HIPPA violation if it is YOUR medical information and you agree to let anyone read it. It IS a HIPPA violation if you put someone else's medical information out there without their consent.

I am a Technician (and a strange one at that too) and i can give you my findings on internet security, its nonexistent! All these innovative means of storage might sound good to business people looking to cut cost etc but nothing is secure where data is concerned especially if its on the internet. Anything on the net can be hacked, its just a matter of time and regardless of encryption bits etc. For the same reason i will never become a verified member of PayPal by means of providing my banking information to them...go figure it out.

Everything is treacherous...even machines!

Business servers have --NEVER-- been hacked, have they?

Essentially 'The Cloud' is a server farm that is willing to offer you an allegedly random space for you to hide aunt Clara's wedding photos in case you have any kind of natural (or unnatural) disaster, or are unwilling/unable to replace/upgrade your own storage space.

IT IS NO MORE SECURE THAN THE INTER-WEB IN GENERAL. Plus, CYBERSPACE IS FOREVER!

My solution is two computers...one for 'net' work, and the other for personal with a 2Tb external storage that gets removed and put into a fire-proof safe when through. Always reasonably cheap to upgrade, and I have no one to blame but myself for any issues...but viruses can't migrate if they never touch the 'highway'. Anything I need from the internet gets printed from comp A, then re-scanned into comp B's storage.

Funny thing is: a simple de-frag is all comp B needs to speed up again...Bonus!

L-8-R-B.

yes, it is so cool.