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Howsafe are your private photos and documentswhen stored online?
Jamilah Lim
and
Hannef Esquander
opine.
72 | FireFlyz
TECHIE
Staying Safe in the Cloud
R
emember
the t ime
when we used to lug
around boxes filled with
diskettes? Or how about
CDs (not DVDs) in their
jewel boxes which was
a tad better at storing
what was once “bigger” files like photos
and videos? Yeah, well, those days are
gone, thanks to the invention of portable
USB drives.
These days, however, saving files and
data are now made even easier with the
advent of cloud storage, named presum-
ably because your data is floating around
inmultiple virtual servers that would allow
you instant access wherever you are, with-
out the hassle of bulky physical devices.
The hosting companies or cloud storage
providers are responsible for keeping the
data not only available but also accessible
and most importantly, protected.
While cloud storage were more com-
monly utilised by businesses in the past,
we are now enjoying the same benefits of
Use Complicated passwords
Firstandforemost, yourdateofbirth isahorrible
password.Andsoareeasilyguessedpasswords
such as “password”, or “iloveyou”. Seriously,
hackers have programmes that can “brute-
force” attacks based on their repository of
commonlyusedpasswords, and thesenumber
in themulti millions.
Never ever use a password that has a special
meaning to you, and this includes anniversary
dates, birth dates, phone numbers or the date
your dog died because anyone who knows
you well enough would be able to connect the
dots easily.
Instead, use a combination of letters, numbers
and special characters/symbols. Also, try to
vary the capitals as passwords are character
sensitive.
Logging in fromdifferent PCs or
devices
Be extra careful when accessing your data
from devices or computers that are not yours.
Browsers these days are optimised for per-
device-free data accessibility through cloud
storage providers like Dropbox, i-Cloud,
Google Cloud Storage and WeTransfer.
Amidst all the hype and excitement
over the cloud, many of us were shaken
by the photo leak scandal involving inter-
national celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence.
Intimate and very private photos from
Apple’s iCloud were published without
consent on the internet leading to a fren-
zied concern over the security and safety
of our cloud data.
While Apple released a statement to all
320 million iCloud users that the images
were leaked via a “very targeted attack”
on the users’ accounts and not due to a
security breach on the iCloud service,
the damage has been done. People were
spooked, and demanded answers. While
we place our faith in our cloud providers,
we have to understand that data security
is a two-way road and does not entirely
rest with hosting providers.
Here are three simple precautions to
keep our private data, private.
We are not suggesting you to give up storing
your data andfiles usingcloud storageanytime
soon but just be smart and extra careful about
securing your account and where you access
it from. Technology is meant to make our lives
easier, not complicate it.
sonalisation and ease of access, so you may
be prompted to save your login information
and keep a login session alive as long as the
browser is open.
Always log out properly and for added precau-
tion, utilisethe“clear cookiesandhistory” func-
tions. Alternatively, use the private browsing
functions (“PrivateBrowsing”onMozillaFirefox
and “Incognito” on Chrome) as this function
does not record any activity on the browser.
Do not use the same password for
multiple accounts
Yes, we know how difficult it is to remember
multiple strings of random characters and
numbers, but you will find that it works in your
favour to have a list of different passwords for
differentaccounts. Imagine ifyouusedthesame
password formultipleaccountsandeverysingle
one of themgot hacked– I wouldn’t evenwish
this onmy enemies.
You can always alternate a few symbols of
characters inapasswordtomake itdifferent, but
doput in theeffort tomemorisewhat youneed.