What You Should Know About Cloud Storage

The use of cloud storage has grown tremendously in recent years. Implementation of cloud technology has made it more convenient to access files from anywhere and it has allowed businesses to keep data private and secure. In addition, cloud services can save businesses money, while making them more flexible. However, there is still a lot that people don’t know about cloud servers.

The cloud is tied to a physical location

Although the cloud service is accessed virtually, the actual cloud server is a physical piece of hardware. That means it is still susceptible to power outages, natural disasters, or sabotage. For this reason alone you should only consider cloud providers that have geographically redundant data centers. Using a cloud provider that doesn’t offer redundancy puts you at risk for service unavailability and permanent loss of valuable data if the server “in the cloud” crashes.

Encryption doesn’t guarantee security and privacy

Encryption goes a long way to boost the privacy and security of your business’s data. However, the service provider still has access to your encryption keys, so your privacy isn’t completely guaranteed.

Some cloud providers take extensive measures to prevent a security breach, such as rotating where the key is stored or putting the key in escrow. If they’re presented with a subpoena, however, they’ll still have access to your business’s data. To prevent this situation, you need to use two-factor encryption key management. This process encrypts the original encryption key further, using the customer’s administrator credentials. Even if presented with a subpoena the cloud provider wouldn’t be able to access your data.

Duplicated data slows cloud backup- and restore- times

On average, 80 percent of data is duplicated throughout an enterprise. Duplication takes place every time multiple copies of a file are saved locally, when the same file is saved on several different devices, and when the same email attachment is sent to multiple people. All of this excess repeating data slows down the network and increases the need for storage.

What you want to look for is a backup solution that uses global deduplication to find and remove repeated data.

Storage technology lacking federated search decreases IT control

Outdated cloud backup providers that use old principles of storage technology don’t have federated search. Federated search allows you, as a customer, to quickly find information on the network. The lack of federated search also makes it challenging for IT staff to search through files, look across devices, locate data, and gather research, all of which limits how well they can do their jobs.

Localized backup providers put you at risk for breaking local data residency laws

Global businesses need their data stored efficiently, with easy access. However, a problem arises when employees from across the world are backing up to a local data center in a foreign country and risk violating the local data residency laws. The industry-leading cloud backup providers are fully prepared for this situation. Having redundant data centers allows you to control where your data is being stored, to ensure you’re complying with local laws.