How silver is the lining in the Cloud?
There is no evidence to support the notion that the cloud is less safe than on-site computing. Trojan Horses and viruses have sent thousands of personal computer users scrambling for security fixes and backup drives. But flying through any cloud has never been without its potential perils. Here are a few guidelines to safer cloud computing:
Backups
Understand your service provider’s backup routines and policies, and if possible back up periodically to your own servers on site.
Disaster Recovery
Disasters happen. Make sure your vendor’s disaster recovery procedures will get you back on your feet quickly.
Encryption
Not all vendors offer encryption. Do your research to make sure your vendor offers secure document and data handling.
Password Policy
Create a password policy for your organization. Password protection is the weakest point of entry in the cloud, so strong passwords that are changed frequently are the best way to protect your goods online.
Technical Support
Before turning your organization’s data over to a cloud computing vendor, make sure you have phone numbers for customer service and tech support, phone numbers that reach people.
