How Safe is your Data on the Cloud ?

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As more and more companies are switching to cloud based applications and solutions, an important question that is being raised by experts across the world is

How safe is it to keep all our sensitive data on the Cloud?

While choosing cloud based applications or solutions, there are 3 major concerns that are to be addressed.

[1] Security

Organizations always have questioned about the security of the cloud servers. Most cloud computing software and applications have backup servers and security features to encounter issues that may arise. Companies that provide cloud-based solutions are well aware of the implications of potential issues. Regular checks and maintenance of the servers are part of their job and vendors usually involve experienced and well-trained professionals to tackle the same.

[2] Data Loss

Another concern is the Data loss due to server issues. Google has a system called ‘Synchronous replication’ to ensure the safety of data. In this system, customer’s data is stored in two data centers at once. Even if one of the data center fails, the other one is still alive with all required data. Google says, data from primary data server is nearly instantly transferred to the other server, so that no data is lost when one of them is down. Most companies that provide cloud-based solutions have similar kind of arrangements to ensure zero data loss.

[3] Data Portability

When you decide to pull back your cloud based application and all related data, the solution provider should be able to revert the data in the format that you require. Also, if you have decided to change the vendor, the data from the old vendor should be portable to the new vendor, as per requirements. There is a possibility that, the data becomes incompatible while transferring it to a different vendor or while pulling off the data from the cloud. These issues should be dealt with properly, to ensure data portability in a smooth manner.

A vendor who has good amount of experience and expertise will be able to foresee all the potential issues that might arise and hence secure the application and related data accordingly. Thus, the cloud based solution providers are to be chosen carefully to ensure that data is handled safely and securely.