There are tons of amazing, wonderful conveniences that we have on our mobile devices because of the cloud. However, these conveniences also come with some security issues if you aren’t a little bit more careful than usual. In the old days, with physical hard drives and data that stayed put, you had a fair chance to keep sensitive information private. But with everything uploading directly to the cloud these days, you really have to think about securing that data better.
So, in order to keep the best parts of the convenience of the cloud along with the best security possible, it’s important that you understand cloud security in the first place, use password best practices, read about hacking methods, stay aware of social media information flow, and lock your mobile devices at all times as well.
Understand Cloud Storage Security
The first gap in many people’s knowledge about cloud security is the details of the encryption itself. When data goes into and out of places like Dropbox or Google Drive, there’s a degree of processing that goes on so that information isn’t just easily scannable or searchable just through a text crawler. So as long as you don’t share your links, or someone doesn’t get your password and log on as you, you should be okay.
Use Password Best Practices
However, encryption doesn’t do anything if someone does get into your account via your password, which is why you should always avoid common passwords, especially for your cloud accounts. That means for whatever profiles you have accessible via any public server, all of those passwords need to be different from each other as well.
Read About Hacking Methods
Another way to protect yourself in the cloud is by knowing what kinds of activities hackers are up to. Some of the common ways that people will get to you is through hacking and phishing techniques, so if you understand how to avoid those pitfalls, you’ll be much less of a target overall.
Be Aware of Social Media Information Flow
Another way to get caught with cloud security issues is if you let your social media habits get out of hand. If you give too much information up to Facebook and Twitter profiles, and then give other information out to surveys, to friends through messages or posts, and other activities like that, hackers can piece together a lot about your identity information.
Keep Your Mobile Devices Secure
And finally, remember that your mobile phone is like a central brain to all of your information, so if you leave it out somewhere, anyone who can get past your lock screen immediately has access to all of your contacts, profile info, phone numbers, and even photos and documents that you have synced.