What Makes the Best Encrypted Cloud Storage?
Data stored in the cloud will be more secure than it would be if only stored on the local servers, contrary to what many users may believe. Your information will be exponentially more secure being stored in a cloud, as the providers will offer higher security measures that are maintained by security experts.
A good cloud service provider will also protect your data against insiders with bad intentions – security permissions and background checks are recommended. You would think that hackers are your main concern, however, employees can be harmful as well, most of the time by unknowingly making big mistakes (ex: accessing company data on their personal phone, without any regard towards the company's network security).
- Support for the major platforms: When it comes to choosing the best encryption solution for your business, compatibility plays a major role. You want the platform that you're running to be compatible with any cloud environment that is active at your organization, no matter if we are talking about public hosting services (Azure, AWS, etc.) or storage solutions (Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.).
- Compliance with regulations: There are very specific policies regarding privacy and data protection that have been adopted by regulatory bodies and governments worldwide. For example, according to GDPR, encryption is a key security measure that needs to be followed.
- Audit logs and trackability: An ideal platform would be one that allows your IT team full visibility on any activities that are storage-related. You would want to see who is encrypting what files, where the files are being decrypted, how the version history of a file looks like, etc. If disaster strikes and a breach happens, your team will be able to use these helpful logs and handle the situation faster.
- Highly-secure collaborations: one of the biggest perks of contracting an encrypted cloud storage service is not worrying about risks. For example, a nice security feature for users is the ability to preview files without downloading them. If your business uses the cloud frequently to collaborate, this feature would be a must-have asset.
- Multiple encryption layers: You will find that different cloud platforms are imposing security layers and encryption to different degrees (end to end encryption, AES-256, SSL, etc) You can make private files invisible to any user but the owner, or have encrypted keys with limited expiration times for limited access to files. It's even possible to enable secure links that will help you share your files without having to use emails. The options are truly endless and it will be up to you and your business needs to decide what security features you need to implement and to what degree.
- Bundled secure storage: Although there are only a few platforms that provide this feature, it can be very useful. Basically, rather than implementing an additional security layer to your storage environment, this feature presents a viable alternative secure storage environment.
