As part four of national cybersecurity awareness month, Campus Technology Services will cover cloud storage, some considerations when storing data in the cloud and how to protect your data while using it
Cloud storage has become one of the greatest data management tools in recent years especially as the workplace and classroom become more mobile. With the use of campus services such as Google Drive and personal services such as Dropbox and Onedrive, it is important to understand where your data goes and how to protect it.
Cloud storage works by taking the data you upload and making copies of it available on many servers in many different places. By doing this, it makes your data available anywhere and accessible even if there are problems with a few of the servers it is hosted on. Because of how cloud storage works, it is always important to consider how confidential something is before uploading it, as there will be many copies of that data. Even with non-confidential data, it is important to keep the following in mind:
- Account security is the first line in keeping your data secure. Always use a strong password and enable multi-factor authentication if the cloud storage service offers it.
- Verify who has access to your data. Cloud storage is great for collaboration but be wary of whom you're sharing data with. Check permissions to shared files occasionally to make sure only trusted individuals have access.
- If someone requests access to your data, always verify whom the request is coming from. Giving access without consideration could leak your data to unknown parties.
- Remove unneeded or outdated data from your storage and be aware of any data retention policies in regards to your data.
By following these tips, you can keep your data safe while leveraging cloud storage to collaborate with others and keep data backed up.
SUNY Oswego offers Google Drive as a service and as such we highly encourage you to perform a Google security check on your account occasionally as it can help keep both your account and data secure. CTS also encourages you to watch the Linkedin Learning video Security Of Cloud Storage for more information.
-- Submitted by Campus Technology Services