Archeologists and historians cut fine figures in our collective imaginations. Plaid suited, with armies of textbooks at their side while they study artifacts and papers to decipher the complicated puzzles of the past. How will this be done in another two hundred years? What will our future historians and archeologists actually look through? Will deciphering OMG’s BRB and TTYL be a challenge? Will they be seen as some kind of hieroglyphics that will need to be de-coded? Will they be looking in the clouds?
The bigger question is what happens to all our text message data? Our emails? Will historians be able to read every single one of Obama’s text messages for instance? Will there even be any mystery left? Or will all of our data be secure in the clouds and historians themselves be as outdated as video stores? All this makes me question how safe our 2015 digital data actually is up in the cloud.
Who backs up the Cloud?
Can the cloud be hacked?
Should I have two clouds?
What does one look for in a cloud solution?
There are news stories of photographers losing their entire digital libraries, celebrity photo leak scandals, and department store passwords hacks, all that do nothing to reassure us that digital files are in any way safe. Add in conspiracy theories of government and nefarious other third party access to our digital information and how do you really know you are protecting your agency’s data at all? According to Forbes Magazine article “Is your Data safe in the Cloud”, there are a few questions you can ask your agency that can help you ensure you chose someone trustworthy with your backup and security:
- Is all data transmitted and stored encrypted?
- Do they perform regular third-party security audits?
- How many full-time employees do they have? – i.e. they are not operating out a garage!
- Have they ever experienced any security breaches?
- What is the up time track record of the company, as verified by a third party and including scheduled maintenance?
The article also suggests you enquire about your data’s portability and what happens if you choose to change vendors and wish to take your data with you. Hopefully your data will be secure in a sacred gold tomb for you to access as needed and still remain there for hundreds of years for the future to discover. It is more likely to stay safe in the cloud with encryption and a very strong, frequently changed password… and maybe a good curse on those who dare trespass.
Further Reading on Cloud Safety and Statistics
http://siliconangle.com/blog/2014/01/27/20-cloud-computing-statistics-tc0114/
