Chiming in a bit late: A “per file” encryption system like Boxcryptor or Cloudfogger secures cloud-stored data without the problem of having to re-sync everything every time one file changes.
Generally, I use Dropbox for info (e.g. the list of DVDs we already have) I may want to access on portable devices, and keep redundant local copies just in case.
Ditto.
I back up my PC onto a portable drive and keep my music and movies on flash drives. A 500 gig flash drive handles all the movies and TV series, just plug it straight into the USB slot on the TV and away we go.
And if your house burns down, you are SOL. Cloud backup and local backup is probably best.
The cloud goes down, but so does your PC and disk. The cloud can get hacked but so can your PC. Your average user is probably a lot safer on the cloud than without it. But it won’t really take off until there is far more universal and faster internet access.
At work we use thin clients connected to an internal “cloud” (which has been in place long before the term was invented) and it works great. No backup worries, all my stuff is available everywhere, without toting a laptop, and losing my computer is zero hassle. Someday everyone will be there.
I go back to mainframe/great computer in sealed room days - my data was where I could physically touch it. To get the data you either use the provided applications or get access to a cable.
Next we have the move to put everything on servers everywhere. Ummm… If I know where that server is physically located (often old maintenance closets), I can steal the drive - you may well have backup, but your sensitive data is mine.
How many times have we seen the “customer data compromised” story?
Now, I am supposed to co-mingle my data on a server farm which, by definition, everybody can access?
We are already to the point that anything you put on the web is public - there is no privacy on the web. In fact, the web now exposes every last byte on your machine to anyone who wants it badly enough. And putting a WiFi router? How easy are we going to make it to steal our data?
Now we are all supposed to make the hacker’s job easier?
If I own the server farm and every line going into it, then intra-organization clouds are fine.
Sharing it?
Let’s leave something for the hackers to do - they might get lazy if we just give them everything.
I do not like the Cloud. I do not trust the Cloud. I resist attempts to make me dependent on the Cloud.
None of that ethereal crap for me.
Somehow, I get the impression that you don’t trust the Cloud.
When it comes to data you’d rather not lose, you shouldn’t trust any one thing—whether the Cloud, or your hard drive, or a pile of CDs. You should back it up somewhere. And the Cloud is as good a place as any, for non-sensitive data, and has the advantage of being accessible from anywhere with an internet connection.
Another uplink speed challenged denizen of the hinterlands chiming in here.
I use Dropbox and Google docs to share information, but I can’t imagine the amount of time it would take to actively synch my work with something ‘out there’ <cue mysterious music>.
If I had something other than DSL, then perhaps, but I wouldn’t put my sensitive data anywhere but where it is right now: on two external SDD drives the location of which rotates from a secure outbuilding a mile away to in my home office.
And all my Dropbox files are encrypted because… well because of all the great reasons set forth upstream by other IT professionals.
The cloud is a great concept and eventually will be incorporated because it allows the content producers that are members of the RIAA and the MPAA (insert cat-calls and hisses here) will insist upon eventually. So will the large software producers who will (as has been mentioned before) change to a rent-as-you-go model. But all of this is predicated upon a much more widespread coverage of truly highspeed broadband.
It is amusing to realize that decades after terminal/mainframes that the ‘cloud’ model is considered to be ‘the future’. It is also amusing to note that the term ‘The Cloud’ apparently comes from the common flowchart symbol for ‘Internet’, a fluffy cumulus cloud such as you would draw at the age of 5 with a crayon.
For me, it’s an absolute non starter. I’m lucky to get 200k down. and 70k up with satellite which is my only option.
Streaming video? What’s that?
Never heard of those before, but that sounds like a good solution. Here’s a comparison I found between them and also TrueCrypt. Unfortunately* for me, neither has a Linux version. That article also mentions a problem some cloud storage providers have with TrueCrypt (not DropBox).
Limiting physical access to computers or drives with sensitive data is step #1 for security. How many cloud services have their servers in unlocked closets? If some company does this, is the data safer on premises or in the cloud?
Odd, lots of these stories I’ve seen is when some moron puts unencrypted customer data lists on his laptop, and then leaves it in a bar or gets it stolen out of his car. And hackers can attack individual companies as easily as they can attack the cloud - probably easier since, given the stories, some of these companies are pretty clueless.
I worked on Multics in 1969 and this wasn’t true then and it certainly isn’t true now. I get information from a supplier’s FTP site every day, and I sure don’t have access to the ftp sites for other customers of this supplier. Companies handle this all the time already, cloud or no cloud.
There are plenty of ways of securing information on the web. Hell, all our bank accounts are there for one thing. Sure, nothing is totally secure unless you put it in a locked room with no connections to anything. But security breaches did not start with the cloud. There were viruses before the web. There were idiots who never reset the root password. There were dumpster divers, and there was social engineering. There are people who don’t download patches rapidly, if ever. There are people who fall for phishing. We are talking about reducing risk, not eliminating it.
Now, if you are a big company who can afford to hire good enough security people I can see why you’d want your data behind your own firewall. But lots of companies are probably safer in the cloud then on their own.
True. But if you are a mom and pop store who needs web access for business purposes, but who don’t know how to spell html, you are better having it done by professionals.
I think it’s a misconception that “the cloud” means “centralized”. Let’s say you connect to the cloud to store files online. Ideally, those files are stored in a data center with RAID-whatever fault tolerant drives with multiple backups and a redundent data center somewhere halfway across the country. It’s certainly more secure than your personal laptop which is subject to theft or your house burning down.
Or it could be connected to some distributed online system. The point is that “The Cloud” isn’t a single centralized place
Obviously security and network accessability are valid concerns. But with data volumes and velocities growing at the rate it is, this is the direction we are headed in and those issues will continue to be addressed.
I don’t see why that would be a problem.
You know what I found facinating in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy? How people were huddled around portable generators like hobos around an oil drum fire charging their devices.
Seems it’d be trivial to encrypt each user’s data, if it’s not done already.