Nearly everyone uses the cloud now. While businesses tend to use it the most, anyone who uses a smartphone, online storage service or even an ebook reader has at least some data stored in the cloud. It’s true that the cloud is safe and that there are many antivirus programs and security protocols used to keep your data safe, but the problem is that the cloud presents new security issues that people aren’t used to dealing with. If you want to keep your cloud data safe, then follow these easy tips.

Offline Storage

This is probably the most annoying tip, but it’s also the most effective. Until the cloud becomes more consistently secure, it’s a good idea to store a local copy of your files at home or at the office. You can store the files on a USB drive, the hard drive, an external hard drive or even a CD. Just make sure that you have a copy of the files.

You don’t need to do this with every file. For example, it might be useless to save some of your movie and image files because you can easily restore them. This is best for financial and high-priority documents that you can’t get back without a lot of frustration.
Businesses might need to fill their servers with these files, but a common home user can usually designate a small folder for the files without filling his or her hard drive.
Understand Security Procedures

You should understand what the vendor is doing to protect your data so that you can supplement their protocols with your own security procedures. This is much more intensive with business users, but it’s still a good idea to know this if you are a home user.
For example, if the cloud service doesn’t two-factor authentication, then ensure that employees can’t access the data without providing two types of authentication. This will also show you if the provider is being precautious enough. If the vendor isn’t encrypting the data and saving a backup file, then you may want to choose another vendor that takes security more seriously.

Strong Passwords

Did you know that the best defense against hackers, in regards to nearly any attack, is to just use a strong password? There are ways to work around passwords and crack them with brute force programs, but most hackers won’t put in the work unless they can make a lot of money by hacking your cloud account.
Making a strong password is easy. Just use a mix of characters, letters and numbers. You shouldn’t write the password on paper because a hacker might find the piece of paper. It’s also a good idea to change the password every month so that anyone using a brute force program won’t be able to find your password.

Avoid WiFi

It’s not a problem if you are using the wireless connection at your home or business if it’s protected, but you should avoid free WiFi without any protections. The problem is that this connection isn’t very safe. A hacker will have no problem seeing what websites and information that you are accessing through your browser.

While there are some ways around this, like using a VPS, it’s a good idea to entirely avoid free WiFi because a hacker might discover your cloud password.

Antivirus Program

Antivirus programs are able to keep viruses from infecting your computer, but how do they keep hackers from entering your cloud system? Here’s something to consider. A hacker can only compromise your cloud system by first compromising your whole computer. If the hacker can’t enter your computer, then how will he or she access your cloud storage?
Just a simple antivirus program can keep hackers from stealing your sensitive data in the cloud. At the same time, ensure that you are getting an effective program so that it can efficiently stop hackers.

Conclusion

Keeping your cloud data safe isn’t that hard if you just use some common sense. If you know how to keep your overall data safe, then you should have no problem keeping hackers from accessing your cloud storage. Just stay mindful of what you do online, and you’ll be fine.

Author Bio:

Rosa Smith uses a cloud when working remotely on her personal blog. Cloud networking for businesses by ProfitBricks cloud security solutions is a great way to customize your businesses cloud network to fit your needs.