The use of cloud data storage has been increasing steadily over the years as more people seek more advanced and secure means of keeping their personal data. At the moment, it is estimated that close to 1.7 billion people worldwide use personal cloud storage. Cloud data storage options for an organization require careful analysis of available cloud storage providers to get the best. The enterprise should also take cognizance of the evolution of its storage needs in its evaluation of potential providers.
With so many companies offering this vital service, you have to be cautious when entrusting anyone with your invaluable personal or organization’s data.
Check Data Security
With the onslaught of cybercrime, your storage provider should let you know beforehand the nature of your data’s encryption. Evaluate the provider’s technology and expertise in meeting your security concerns. Ensure your data is encrypted even during rest or storage and maintain your own decryption keys for added protection or if you may create your own encryption keys. Redundant storage offers more security but your data should be recovered quickly when needed. It must be emphasized that encryption alone is insufficient because what counts is how the encryption keys are generated, who generates them, and how they are stored and destroyed whenever need arises. Ideally, encryption keys should be replaced periodically to guarantee the data’s safety.
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ensure Data Recovery
Before committing to a contract with the cloud owner, confirm how conveniently your data recovery mechanisms will serve you. If any need should arise for you to change your cloud provider or if your provider shuts down, know how long it will take before recovering and retrieving the data, in which form it will be presented and if you will get each copy available of that data. Check out your contract carefully for the terms and conditions set on the recovery process and if you are liable to pay for storage as you await the recovery.
Service Level Agreement (SLA)
Service availability, policy on downtimes and negotiable aspects of the pricing model should be your focus when perusing the SLA. Your company stands to lose if you misunderstand the extent of benefits your business gets from the SLA. Get a supplier whose terms conform to your business’ needs for privacy and security, and to regulatory requirements. The agreement should state circumstances of support where the cloud provider reads your data. Perform due diligence to confirm the provider has the necessary resources to fulfill the SLA.
Finally, you obviously must think about the price. However, don’t ever let the price factor tempt you into settling for the cheapest provider. Instead, go for value for your money because your data is invaluable. The security of your data starts with you; don’t make it accessible to just anyone in the organization. Remember, the more people you allow access to the data, the higher the risks of infringement.
