How Secure is Cloud Storage

Importance of Secure Cloud Storage

Cloud Storage has several advantages like virtual scalable hardware, low infrastructure cost and so on.

One instance that is of utmost concern for online business owners is how safe is the Cloud? Or what if a malware or a malicious attacker hacks their system and steals all their sensitive data? Moreover, this concern has increased with attacks like Ransomware in the past and reinforces the need for tight security.

When it comes to Cloud, all the servers are interconnect to each other by means of a network cluster and there is no single point of failure. With this tightly coupled feature, hackers find it very difficult to crack and break into the system. A strong Cloud storage facility should come equipped with high-end intrusion detection mechanism and block the entry of malicious codes and attacks.

How Secure is the Cloud

Having seen the importance of cloud storage we can say that most of the cloud storage services we store our data on are secure. Be it Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon Cloud etc each application has its own set of security mechanisms in place.

One of the ways, cloud providers secure the user’s data is by means of encryption. The data is store in an encrypt format that would need a key to decrypt and understand. It is nearly impossible to break in and find the key. However, as a user, it is safe to say prevention is better than cure and it is advisable that you employ certain practices for securing your data on the local side.

Let’s cover three basic and important practices that can help keep your data safe over the cloud:

Encryption

Although while choosing the cloud storage service, you might have chosen the one that is well encrypted so as to prevent hackers. One way to secure your data on the cloud is to encrypt your data as well and store it on the server. This way there is a double barrier layer that restricts the hacker from getting access to your data. Choose an encryption service that lets you encrypt your data before uploading it over the cloud.

Safe Sharing

Should you want to give anyone access to the data uploaded on your cloud, do not send them your copy. What you can do instead is create a local copy of the file and share that instead. This way if the copy gets in the hands of an intruder it can’t be misuse to infiltrate your system.

Security

Finally, one of the simplest yet overlooked ways of protecting your data is to have a strong password and remember to never share your password with anyone. Also, you can have a 2-factor authentication in place. This helps if your cloud password gets leak, at such a time the hacker can’t gain access to your account. Should they try to login you’ll be immediately notified.

Handling Cloud Storage Security on Cloud Hosting

Now that we’ve seen how safe is the cloud and ways to secure our data on the cloud, let us move to a different perspective of the cloud. Cloud Hosting is another form of cloud storage when it comes to hosting our website’s data. Every Cloud Hosting provider has different security mechanisms when it comes to providing a secure Cloud platform. This includes Automatic backups, security plugins and protection, anti-viruses and also the overall storage structure.

We at Webzworld try to take care of all this by providing you with safe and secure Cloud Storage features. We ensure you get maximum protection as we’ve integrated cPanel with our Cloud Hosting, thus you can leverage the security features of cPanel too. Let us have a look at them in detail,

Ceph Storage:

Ceph Storage is an open-source free storage software that boosts scalability and improves the performance to your system. With Webzworld we have integrated Ceph Storage with our Cloud Hosting packages for amazing reliability and equal storage distribution. Furthermore, Ceph Storage gives 3N redundancy thereby, ensuring there is no single point of failure and your data is safe in our Cloud.

ClamAV Antivirus

ClamAV is an open source antivirus software and protects your server from malicious viruses for email and file-manager uploads. It is cross-platform and supports various operating systems.To provide you with additional security, you can install ClamAV on your Linux cPanel in WHM account for your Cloud Hosting.

Hotlink Protection

Hotlink Protection is a tool that allows you to block other websites from stealing the bandwidth from your package. Hotlink Protection can be easily find in your cPanel Security tab where you as a user can decide whether to enable or disable it. This is an additional feature and can be turn on or off depending on your requirement.

Leech Protection

Another way of securing your Cloud Storage is by enabling Leech Protection. In Leech Protection, if a user exceeds the maximum number of logins then the system redirects or suspends the user. Leech Protection offers your website security from Brute-Force attack wherein the user is denied unlimited logins. Also, Leech Protection is helpful if your login credentials are public.You can enable Leech Protection in the security tab of your cPanel account.

SFTP

SFTP stands for SSH File Transfer Protocol. Our Linux Cloud servers come with SFTP option to keep your cloud storage as well as file transfer secure.

Tips on improving Cloud Security

Although your Cloud Storage provider might take care of securing the data hosted on their cloud. You as a user too should know how to secure your cloud storage. Follow these tips and you might not have to fully depend on the Cloud provider.

Always take backups of your data, in fact, automatic backup is recommend as it is failsafe, should you forget to take a backup. Codeguard is one good option to take automatic backup and restore your website’s data in case of a security breach.

Another way to secure your Cloud storage is to keep your website safe from attacks from hackers. Although with webzworld we provide you safe security, adding an additional website security for your sensitive data is a good option. SiteLock offers virus protection and malware removal while SSL certificate builds trust and offers reliability.

Research about your service provider well and also where their datacenter location is. This might seem far-fetched but is equally important. If your hosting data center is located far from where your customer base it, your website load time may suffer slight delay leading to customer loss.

In Summary:
Different Cloud providers have different features and pricing. When deciding which is best for you, take care that you don’t just go on the pricing but check other sensitive information like security feature and support. At the end, there is no definite answer to how secure is the Cloud Storage but you can definitely take measure and do adequate research.