keeping your data safe

Hey, guys! I have recently opened a tutorial center for ages 3-12 years old. :twothumbs Now, I have so many lessons, tests and other important data that need some security. I am thinking of buying an external memory to keep most of my files there or maybe a cloud storage. I don't really have so much idea about that cloud thing. I just encountered it on my iPhone. I signed up for an iCloud account. I noticed that my photos are automatically being saved to iCloud. Do you think that is best to use for my data on my computer as well? I am also planning to hire an asst. tutor and 3 more tutors after a few months for now for my expansion project. So maybe it will be better to go for an advance solution. What do you think? I'll surely appreciate your suggestions. Thanks.

Love cloud storage, since you can access it anywhere and upgrade instantly as needed. Would certainly want it for teaching where there's lots of data to back up and lots of different computers to view it on.

Apple and google are probably safe in terms of the companies surviving. Don't know what google will glean from your data but I use google for some things.

Been meaning to set up my own aws s3 bucket but not worth the effort.

Clouds are good, with a few caveats...

They can still fail, so have your backup

If it's the only copy, you can accidentally wipe out the data, so have your backup

Establish a 2nd location backup with audit history and versions over time

Given the rate at which data breaches occur (and my guess is for every one that we hear about, there were at least a dozen others that we either didn't hear about, or the people who have been hacked, haven't discovered yet), I concluded that the only really safe storage is the storage that is physically yours. I elected to go with my own cloud. I was able to pick up an essentially new 4gb 2 bay NAS (Network Attached Storage), which is run as a RAID 1. So while I only have 2tb usable, only something that physically destroys the equipment on my premises is going to result in loss. In the end all of my important data is in 3 places. If you shop around, you can pick up a reasonable sized NAS system for a whole lot less than MSRP. I found one for about 30% of MSRP that still had 30 of its 36 month warranty left.

In addition with external cloud based storage, you are limited to whatever your Internet connection speed is, and it is a very safe bet that few even have 100mbps connections, let alone 1000mbps. The slower the connection, the longer it takes to backup the data, and the longer it will take to restore.

I also cannot resist pointing out that the big cloud vendors are also the big targets for hackers. There is PR value in hacking the big guys, and it is likely there is data being stored that may actually be valuable to someone.

My NAS is connected behind a firewall/router, via Gigabit Ethernet, so both backup and restore are very fast relative to external cloud. In addition my NAS has clock. It is only accessible during hours I am likely to need it. Try to access it at 3:00AM, and you will get absolutely nothing.

I have the option of making my NAS visible to remote users. I have elected not to. No internet access and behind a firewall means you have to be connected to my in house network to see it. With WPA2 security on my wireless, it isn't going to be easy, and since I only support 802.11B/G, the wireless connection is going to be quite slow. The longer the hacker remains connected, the greater the risk of discovery.

In conclusion, my cloud storage isn't very visible, I am not a very attractive target, and there is very little that is of interest to anyone else, so I am of little interest to any hacker. So my data is pretty secure both physically, and from external threats.

Cloud storage is a model of data storage where the digital data is stored in logical pools, the physical storage spans multiple servers (and often locations), and the physical environment is typically owned and managed by a hosting company.

Network-attached storage (NAS) is a file-level server connected to a network. (Data Appliance)

They are different beasts.

Like Matthew, (above) I like NAS, for pretty much the same reasons.

But, I don't necessarily have the same comfort level about security. Local storage only (without off-site storage) is not a good idea for critical data.

And if you invite the internet into your house, (who doesn't?) then all bets are off.

There is a famous Bruce Schneier Quote:

"I am regularly asked what the average Internet user can do to ensure his security. My first answer is usually 'Nothing; you're screwed'."

(I am sure B.S. was trying to be funny. But even the best security seems to fall a little short sometimes.)

Hackers? The NSA has all your files already. The rest just just want your contact details and spending trends to sell to spammers.

And it seems the spammers think that I'm after a Russian bride despite all the flashlight material I store online

It may also be possible to encrypt the data, so the stored data is not easily used by a hacker.

As mentioned, nothing is 100% secure...but, the harder you make it to obtain/use, the better.

What do you guys think about Dropbox regarding safety? I use it to share some images, keep some spreadsheets, receipts, etc. Nothing too personal or sensitive. It is nice being able to refer back to some things 24/7 since I always have my phone with me.

The breaches to Dropbox a few years back got me wary of Dropbox. Still use it to share the odd file.

With that and any other service, if two factor authentication is available, use it if you have sensitive stuff

For my machine shop I've configured one of my work stations as a RAID 1 with 4 drives each being 2TB.

Previously used FTP for file transfers, now only use encrypted thumb drives. Once I get the drive back from my customer with the CAD files, it gets scanned for viruses on a stand alone machine, then transferred to the work station.

Any internet activity is logged and once a data cap is reached, blocks access.

I'll be looking at Windows 10 this week to see how it behaves. From what I'm seeing right now, I'll be sticking with Win7. By the time the end of support for Win7 happens, I probably won't have the shop running.

Thanks for all your advice and suggestions. I'll definitely check them out.
One of my friends recommended that I try this company. She used their services for a case of Windows Server 2003 EOL Checklist but they have cloud services as well. I'll be calling them next week for further clarifications.