We live in the times when a lot \u2014 if not most \u2014 of our data is stored online. This makes data sharing and exchange remarkably easy. However, it does come with its own set of risks. Storing data online, especially data that is sensitive and private, is not always secure. Data breaches, leaks and theft are all an unfortunate possibility when working with data online \u2014 or even offline \u2014 on your device.<\/p>\n
This is why in today\u2019s post, we are looking into what makes it dangerous to store personal data online and your options for secure file transfers over the web.<\/p>\n
Sensitive data can refer to any data that an individual or organization wants to keep private. In a lot of cases, the release of such information can have devastating effects. For a company, it may be related to losing trade secrets. On an individual level, it may involve disclosing personal data like your financial information, logins, ID, and more.<\/p>\n
Personal information may also be referred to as NPI (nonpublic personal information) or PII (personally identifiable information) and may include an individual\u2019s date of birth, address, social security number, medical information, ethnic data, genetic data, biometrics, gender information, and more. Some examples of non-public corporate information may include contracts, financial information, trade and operation secrets, and more.<\/p>\n
The inability to keep private personal and commercial data protected may result in data theft or leakage.<\/p>\n
Data theft is the process of stealing private information that is stored online, on various devices and servers, etc. It is a growing problem for both individual users and businesses: the number of data breaches that occurred in 2021 by September 30th has already exceeded the number of data breaches that occurred in all of 2020.<\/p>\n
Every year, governments pass a variety of new regulations that aim to protect personal and commercial data from unlawful access and theft. Examples of such initiatives include the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), California Consumer Privacy Act, and others.<\/p>\n
While these acts are definitely helpful in spreading awareness about data security, both companies and individuals must exercise due diligence every time they work with private data. This is especially important when sharing data online.<\/p>\n
Typically, when we need to exchange large amounts of data \u2014 and there are no options for passing it to the recipient manually (say via a flash drive) \u2014 we would share our files and folders via the cloud.<\/p>\n
While storing data in the cloud is generally safe, it\u2019s definitely not without risks.<\/p>\n
For instance, in 2011, a Dropbox update error made Dropbox accounts accessible to anyone with just an email address. The error only took a few hours to fix, but the data breaches that occurred in the meantime couldn\u2019t be reversed. Another data breach occurred in 2012 when the email addresses and passwords of over 68 million users were revealed.<\/p>\n
While the data breaches we\u2019ve mentioned above are exceptions to the rule, they do reveal an issue with the way a lot of cloud storage platforms manage data. One of the biggest issues here is that most cloud storage platforms retain the right to access your information. And while the data you store in the cloud is encrypted, theoretically, anyone can get your encryption key because it is stored alongside your data.<\/p>\nAlso read:<\/span> How To Access Flags In Chrome + 5 Best Chrome Flags Settings<\/a><\/span>\nHow to Send Large Files Securely?<\/h2>\n