By
Mark Ollig
In
light of the recently stolen celebrity data files from a popular cloud-based
storage server, I recall the words of Apple’s co-founder.
Steve
(Woz) Wozniak gave us a warning about using cloud-based storage two years ago.
“I
really worry about everything going to the cloud. I think it’s going to be
horrendous. I think there are going to be a lot of horrible problems in the
next five years,” Wozniak predicted.
In
2009, when public cloud-based computing was being discussed, yours truly wrote
how moving our applications and data to the cloud seemed inevitable.
At
the time, it appeared cloud-based servers were to be the next logical
progression in how we would store and access our data and programs.
Our
computing was moving onto the Web.
I
believed backing up the data inside our computing devices to the cloud made
sense.
Isn’t
having our data stored and accessible from an offsite location, within a data
server cabinet, inside a highly-secured room, the wave of the future?
We
are told there is no danger of losing our data. The cloud-based servers will
keep our data file information safe and secure.
Today,
we are learning the real danger is having our cloud-based data accessed by
unauthorized computer hackers.
It
was from inside Apple’s iCloud storage servers where celebrities’ personal data
(including scandalous photos) were hacked into and stolen.
Apple,
however, confirmed they found no evidence of any widespread problems with its
iCloud storage service.
“After
more than 40 hours of investigation, we have discovered that certain celebrity
accounts were compromised by a very targeted attack on user names, passwords,
and security questions, a practice that has become all too common on the
Internet,” Apple said in their media advisory statement.
Apple
advised its users “to always use a strong password and enable two-step
verification.”
For
more information on how to secure your Apple ID accounts, visit:
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4232.
The
targeted attack on Apple’s cloud-based servers is no doubt giving some pause to
the users of iCloud.
A
user’s data stored in the iCloud is “safe and secure” insofar as the chance of
it becoming lost or unretrievable is concerned.
However,
this data can be, as Apple stated, “compromised” via unauthorized access by a
computer hacker.
This
latest data breach of data from the iCloud, along with the recent intrusions
into various well-known corporate data servers containing customer account
numbers and passwords, does not bode well for consumer confidence regarding
cloud-based storage of their personal data.
Even
though cloud-based data is stored securely, a potential hacker, or some
complex, algorithmic software program, has the potential to gain access to a
private user’s data files.
Years
ago, when a cloud was considered a white, puffy thing floating in the sky, we
were backing up our computer files onto external hard drives, 3.5-inch
diskettes, rewritable CDs, and those 5.25-inch thin floppy disks we stacked
like vinyl 45 rpm records.
Today,
many of our computing and smart mobile devices automatically sync and upload
our files to an Apple iCloud, or other cloud-based data storage service
provider such as: Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Carbonite, Mozy, or Dropbox.
Being
our computer files would now be automatically stored off-site, we thought we no
longer needed to worry about losing our data. The future was looking to be all
wine and roses.
It
is mind-boggling when one considers the large amount of personal information being
stored inside the cloud.
Think
of all the photos, text, and video we have uploaded to Facebook, YouTube,
Twitter, and all those other social networks we are using.
Chromebook
users are truly using cloud-computing, as they access their programs being
stored inside Google’s cloud-based servers.
As
we continue to send our data into online social networks and cloud-based backup
dataservers, we need to be asking more questions, instead of just trusting
everything will be alright.
Who
is authorized to access our data?
What
additional layers of security can be added to user accounts in order to be
better protected from their being hacked into and compromised?
How
are the cloud-based account password and security settings managed?
We
need to investigate how cloud-based service providers are securing our online
information.
The
Woz may be right, but it is up to us to take action to ensure our online data
is as protected as possible.
Let’s
start examining more closely the safeguards being used to store and protect our
cloud-based data.
