There has been a lot of news since the end of August about all of the leaked celebrity photos, often called the fappening, and most recently the news of a huge collection of photos leaked from Snapchat, often called the snappening. It is particularly worrisome that these events have occurred, not only from the perspective of the individuals whose private photos have been leaked and their privacy violated, but also from the perspective of the damage these leaks are causing on the cloud computing industry overall. There is no doubt that these events will make people more leery of using cloud based services for fear their data will be leaked online for the whole world to see. While I still think using the cloud is safe there are things we as cloud users need to keep in mind to help protect our privacy.
- Use Strong Passwords / Hard to Guess Security Questions
It is hard to believe that people are still using easy to guess passwords and security questions. This is your number one defence against people getting into your cloud accounts the harder it is the more likely they will either not get in or will simply give up trying. If you want help to remember your new hard to guess passwords I highly recommend LastPass to keep your passwords safe and to generate hard to guess passwords for your accounts. - Use Two Factor Authentication
If a service offers two factor authentication turn it on and use it. It will alert you to any unauthorized attempts to access your cloud services accounts. It adds a little more inconvenience sometimes but is worth the extra safety. - Use Private Encryption Keys
Many cloud storage and backup services offer the ability to use private encryption keys. Using a private encryption key will keep your data safe no matter who gets a hold of your data. If the cloud storage service does not offer the option to use a private encryption key there are other options like Boxcryptor for some cloud storage services or even the ability to zip your files and adding a strong password before uploading your files to the cloud provider. - Create Your Own Cloud
It is possible to create your own cloud using software like ownCloud and Bittorrent Sync for cloud storage and other services for secure chat like the new Bittorrent Chat. Depending on what you need you can easily setup your own peer to peer sharing and chat for only those people you trust. You can then share your files between your friends and family and delete them when you want. Granted it is not as easy or convenient as just using a service it does give you more control. - Use Zero-Knowledge Services
The reality is not all cloud services are as private as others. Some cloud services simply take security more important than others. This can be really hard to tell from one service to another since they all will say how secure they are and how they keep your data safe. Looking through the services website for as much information as you can about how your data is transmitted and stored can help and of course you can always ask the service you are thinking of using how they encrypt your data. Services like SpiderOak, who is a great zero-knowledge service, even have exceptions to zero-knowledge security when files are shared publicly or you login to their website. Being aware of these exceptions will help you keep your data safe from prying eyes. Some other good services you might want to look into for cloud storage are Sync.com and Tresorit.
Of course no matter how careful you are there is always a chance you might share or expose something you do not want out there. With a few basic safety precautions you should be able to protect your privacy and keep your private photos private. That being said, remember I am not a lawyer or cloud/cyber security expert so my advice is not guaranteed to keep you safe but is just some good general guidelines to help you. In other words if your stuff ends up out there don’t come blaming me. :)
What do you do to ensure your private files stay private? Has the fappening and snappening made you less likely to use cloud services?
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