SugarSync. Box.com. Google Docs. One Drive. Dropbox. CloudMe. Amazon Cloud Drive.
After the successful launch of Box.com and SugarSync in 2005, multiple cloud platforms have come into the picture. Undoubtedly, it erased the constant trouble of storage deficiency in every business sector. Today, Google Docs is dealing with 240 million users; and as per the statement of Microsoft’s CEO, OneDrive meets with more than 250 million users in a day.
And why not? These cloud storage platforms are incredibly assessable and too user-friendly to be adopted by businesses. Especially, their ‘Freemium’ pricing approach can drag any user to give those some free trials. Unfortunately, these cloud platforms are pretty great only for sharing personal files or data among friends, relatives, and colleagues. However, they lack certain configurations and security measures for protecting your data from being spread easily.
Lack of IT Surveillance
These public cloud platforms are not under the surveillance of Information Technology. Server-based solutions and all the private cloud platforms usually offer more favorable data transmission speed than broadband, as they are developed under the company’s firewall. Within an enterprise, the transfer rate should be a considerable aspect especially while transferring large sized files. The productivity of a company largely relies upon the transfer rate and every business organization must be aware of that.
When it comes to a cloud platform, there is always a risk regarding data storage and its possibility of getting stolen. Most of the cloud platforms preserve all their clients’ data in a single storage room (either 3rd party storage providers or inside the offshore data houses). Therefore, we come to a point where we’re completely unaware of the data storing location where your information is subjected under the local regulations. That’s the reason when Wuala and Nirvanix got bankrupt; their users barely got time to protect their data.
High Possibility of Data Breach
2012 was an unforgettable year for the Dropbox users when the application got hacked and the login credentials of the users became public. A comprehensive strategy for securing a company network is a must, as cyber attackers can peep in from absolutely any direction and hardly give signals before appearance. Naturally, the public cloud platforms become the easy targets of the pervasiveness of the cyber attackers. Even the custom assignments of the educational websites get stolen easily by the potential hackers.
Since customer satisfaction has become the major driving source for product development, the developers have started valuing reliability over security. Especially, in a public cloud platform, the slightest sign of hacking in a single network can leave the entire platform vulnerable to the hackers, as numerous users use the same password across several business-handling apps. Remember, a simple data breach can shut down the entire operational activities of your business organization. So think twice or maybe thrice before you choose a cloud platform for data storage.
Uptight Collaboration
Once you sync one file to all your employees’ folders among a large number of devices, you ensure that everyone gets access to the content. However, when the file is picked by multiple people at a time for editing, problems might arise. Your valuable data gets overwritten or removed easily due to lack of implementation of the robust collaboration tools.
Features like, “Check-in” or “Check-out” are missing from these public cloud platforms and that’s where your information gets revised without your knowledge. Depending upon the complexity and gravity of your data, you set certain teams dealing with separate modules under the single assembly file while accessing it at the same time. Certainly, without a secure collaboration ingredient, you won’t be able to limit the file altercation access and look after individual activities.
Be it a term paper writer or a large business organizational head, keeping his/her data safe should be the ultimate concern for every individual. And surprisingly, the open data storing platforms don’t provide you with sufficient security.