Cloud storage is the new hot trend in the tech world, and every tech company has taken advantage of it to some extent. From Samsung storing contacts, messages, and call logs in your Samsung Account to the wildly innovative smartphone company Nextbit Robin eliminating most of the storage on the smartphone, leaving the only option for storage being the cloud.
Cloud Storage Services and Service Providers
The cloud is a computer owned by a service provider, also called a ‘hosting company,’ which is constantly connected to high-speed internet and stores a user’s data in a portion of storage allocated to that particular user. The vendors’ storage disks to provide cloud storage can be spread over multiple physical locations. The storage space is bought or leased by organizations and individuals. A computer scientist, Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider, brought the innovation forward in the 1960s while working on ARPANET. Many companies later began to provide cloud services, but the scale was small.
The real boom came in 2005-2006 when several services, such as Dropbox, Smugmug, and Pinterest, started providing cloud storage services to individuals and businesses. Cloud services became very popular as they made digital storage an operating expense relatively cheaper than its capital. They also ensured the data was backed up in case anything went wrong. However, security concerns came with the rise in the popularity of Cloud storage services. Indeed, companies did not want to hand over private and confidential data if there was a risk that the data’s safety would be compromised. This led to the phenomenon that many people in the world discuss today as Cloud Security.
The Concept of Cloud Security
With more and more people utilizing cloud storage services, a rising concern among users is the safety and security of their private data. Service providers claim to provide foolproof security for user data stored on the cloud. However, many cloud storage critics have demanded that cloud vendors provide an insight into the methods of security used, often accusing the vendors of not taking adequate measures for cloud security. Cloud data may be susceptible to theft and misuse as hackers use various methods to break into cloud accounts. They can even break into the cloud computer, compromising the security of all data in the cloud.
In recent times, there have been a high number of reports of data breaches on cloud servers. This makes companies cautious when trusting cloud vendors with sensitive company data. It also makes it necessary for vendors to take several security measures to protect the data present on cloud servers. However, a study about cloud storage by IDG enterprises indicates that many organizations have started to trust cloud vendors with their data.
The Cloud Storage Industry Needs Transparency
However, the study also supports that organizations are concerned about transparency with their service providers. The reason is that although vendors say they have state-of-the-art cybersecurity measures, they don’t reveal anything about them. The study also suggests that IT managers would be better able to trust vendors if they can show that they fully comply with corporate requirements.
The survey further emphasizes the importance of cloud vendors being transparent about their security practices. It is seen that many enterprises support the idea of integrating security into the system development life cycle and that cloud security patches should be updated regularly. There can be multiple ways that vendors can gain organizations’ trust and show that cloud security is a concern. Measures could range from conducting onsite audits to verifying the background information of the employees that they hire. However, demanding such a transparent system is difficult for small and medium-sized businesses, while it is easier for larger organizations to demand transparency from cloud storage vendors.
Despite that, the study also claims that IT managers are not ready to fully accept cloud storage facilities until and unless vendors agree to meet the corporate world’s compliance requirements. Many recent data breaches have occurred, so IT managers are expected to be cautious when trusting cloud vendors with sensitive company data. Cloud vendors must increase the security measures they take to protect cloud data.
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