Why do you store personal information in cloud services?

[RealMadrid15]

Why do you store personal information in cloud services?

I would never trust any company with my data.

1. The company can go out of business/close down service
2. Someone can hack the cloud service
3. An employee could hack/download files off the cloud service
4. Your things aren't actually on your computer, you have to wait for them to upload and download to the cloud service
5. Privacy issues, data mining, selling information to advertisers
6. Internet connection is needed to access data

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For those of you who do use a cloud service, why?

Wouldn't an external hard drive be easier for space, portability, and security?

 

[robbieduncan]

One does not preclude the other. My Mac, iPhone and iPad sync Contacts data via iCloud. But, clearly, each still has a local copy of the data so it's backed up locally via my normal backup routine too.

 

[MacDawg]

One does not preclude the other. My Mac, iPhone and iPad sync Contacts data via iCloud. But, clearly, each still has a local copy of the data so it's backed up locally via my normal backup routine too.

This
I have redundancy built in everywhere

There are risks with having data anywhere

1. The company can go out of business/close down service
That is why I have redundancy

2. Someone can hack the cloud service
Someone can hack my network or my computer

3. An employee could hack/download files off the cloud service
An employee or anyone can steal my computer

4. Your things aren't actually on your computer, you have to wait for them to upload and download to the cloud service
Most things are stored locally and in the Cloud

5. Privacy issues, data mining, selling information to advertisers
If you are on the internet at all, these things are going on

6. Internet connection is needed to access data
With WiFi and data plans, I am rarely not connected, but even then, most things are redundant or with an option for offline work

 

[SteppingStone]

One good reason would be as part of a backup strategy.

If your backups are all in one single physical location you're susceptible to local threats: fire, theft, etc. By backing up to the cloud you increase robustness (at the possible expense of security, as you mention).

 

[miles01110]

I would never trust any company with my data.

You already trust dozens of companies with your data. That's assuming you've ever bought something online, have basic utilities in your home, have a credit card or have ever had a credit card, "are on the internet", have a bank account, or take advantages of any of the numerous conveniences of modern life.

 

[Kurwenal]

Why do you store personal information in cloud services?

Because I find that the convenience outweighs the risk.

1. The company can go out of business/close down service
2. Someone can hack the cloud service
3. An employee could hack/download files off the cloud service
4. Your things aren't actually on your computer, you have to wait for them to upload and download to the cloud service
5. Privacy issues, data mining, selling information to advertisers
6. Internet connection is needed to access data

Risks 1-5 are significantly mitigated by encrypting your data before it is synched. I use BoxCryptor with Dropbox and I sleep well at night. Risk 6 is a reason *to* sync.

 

[shotts56]

I would never trust any company with my data.

And the moon landing was faked, and the only way to stop the government reading your thoughts is to wear a hat made of tinfoil.

 

[RealMadrid15]

And the moon landing was faked, and the only way to stop the government reading your thoughts is to wear a hat made of tinfoil.

Because obviously not trusting a company with your data after LinkedIn, Sony, Blizzard, Etc, were hacked is comparable to believing the moon landing was faked.

And thanks for making fun of people who have schizophrenia like one of my relatives who actually does wear a hat made of tinfoil. We've tried for years to get him to see a doctor or taking meds but we can't legally force him to.

Now we stopped because he's 60 and if he realized what he had wasted his life he'd probably want to go off the pills again.

So please continue to make fun of people with medical illness, maybe next time you could go after "retards". Right?

 

[madsci954]

Because I find that the convenience outweighs the risk.

This.

 

[shotts56]

Because obviously not trusting a company with your data after LinkedIn, Sony, Blizzard, Etc, were hacked is comparable to believing the moon landing was faked.

And thanks for making fun of people who have schizophrenia like one of my relatives who actually does wear a hat made of tinfoil. We've tried for years to get him to see a doctor or taking meds but we can't legally force him to.

Now we stopped because he's 60 and if he realized what he had wasted his life he'd probably want to go off the pills again.

So please continue to make fun of people with medical illness, maybe next time you could go after "retards". Right?

Do you often overreact so much ?

 

[sabahm]

Well that is a quiet unpleasant question as world is moving towards advancement and you are still on the dark side by asking such question. At some extent the question are noticeable. But on and on we are somehow trusting on different things. And if we stop doing that, we won't possibly move a step ahead from it. In reply of your question, let me try to share my views on each part;

1. The company can go out of business/close down service
Yes, it is possible. So better to keep yourself connected with a big company. Don't peruse low prices methodology. There are big companies which you may rely upon. But again yes, they can be shut their service down. So finger crossed and trust them.. Better is to have backup of all your data. In syncing, main data source is available on your system / desktop.

2. Someone can hack the cloud service
You can't hide from this. Anyone can hack your data whether you use cloud storage or some other services. You may use VPN services to encrypt your data transformation. Btw, cloud is dam secure!

3. An employee could hack/download files off the cloud service
That's over reacting act, i believe? Why would their employee hack your data? There are laws abiding by the company!

4. Your things aren't actually on your computer, you have to wait for them to upload and download to the cloud service
No, if you follow sync method, then all your data stored on your local computer and then sync all the updates & files.

5. Privacy issues, data mining, selling information to advertisers
Read their SLA's. You will get a better idea! About selling information to advertisers, well that is suspicious. Even search engines / sites do sell!

6. Internet connection is needed to access data
Yes it requires. You may search for offline back-up as well. But again, then there will be no such concept of cloud storage if you can't access it from anywhere?

 

[Mark steven]

Why do you store personal information in cloud services

Cloud computing service store data on a server rather than on your hard drive so that you can access it from any Internet-enabled device.

 

[jojoba]

One does not preclude the other. My Mac, iPhone and iPad sync Contacts data via iCloud. But, clearly, each still has a local copy of the data so it's backed up locally via my normal backup routine too.

This. In addition, I don't store personal information in the cloud, it's primarily collections of research articles and other resources that are not personal in nature, plus some of my work in progress which I doubt many people would find interesting enough to abuse.