When you think cloud, you typically think gigantic white fluffy thing that’s mostly water vapor and takes a bunch of random shapes. They look like gigantic pillows. Not exactly the most terrifying thing. But for Figaro Pho, clouds are about the worst thing since brussel sprouts (no offense to any of our readers who actually enjoy brussel sprouts). Luckily for little Pho, he’s not the only one suffering from nephophobia (the fear of clouds), because a good number of businesses are still afraid of the cloud.
Two Different Clouds: Reality vs. Digital
Don’t worry, we’re not going to start lecturing you on the differences between stratus and cumulonimbus clouds (we’ll save that for high school earth science and weather aficionados). While we would recommend ducking inside when you see a cumulonimbus cloud (aptly named the Thunder Head), we would also recommend being a little wary of what business information you put in the cloud. It may not be as safe as you think.
The Encryption Problem
The Ponemon Institute released its third annual report a couple of weeks ago, and its reviews of cloud technology services were fairly mixed. According to the report, trust in the cloud has never been higher, and those numbers are continuing to grow. 53% of the organizations that were polled claimed that the cloud was a trustworthy site for data storage (up from 49% in 2011). While trust is growing in cloud technology services, the industry still has one major problem–encryption. Major cloud service providers like Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft have been trying to encrypt as much of their user data as they can, but there are still some inevitable leaks. Without taking the proper online security measures, you could be exposing your business to unnecessary risk, so make sure the information you store on the cloud is encrypted. That being said, you shouldn’t be afraid to use cloud services, just be wary of what you’re putting up on the server. Contact your cloud service provider if you have any questions, or contact your friendly local IT professional for some cloud service advice.
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