Security In The Age of Big Data

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Recent Cloud Hacks Have Shined A New Light On The Risk From The Age Of Big Data

Keeping data completely safe in the Cloud is impossible. There’s no way to do it. However, you can still protect yourself by being smart when deciding how to store your valuable information.

The recent spate of celebrity nude photos being hacked and disseminated on the web is just another example of how volatile the online world really is.

USA.gov has a helpful list of things to do to make sure you keep your information safe as possible online.

Minimize Access to Information
- The easiest way to do this is to not store valuable information online. That isn’t always so easy with the intrusion of more of the connected world into our lives, so there’s also ways to protect info such as keeping it on a flash drive that can be removed and carried with you.
Include Two-Factor Authentication
- Apple has actually already had two-factor authentication available to users before the iCloud hack. The two-factor process includes not only using a password to move forward on whatever process you’re involved, but also adding an additional piece of information, such as a 4-digit code, adding depth to the sign in process.
Encrypt Data
- Many commerce sites, as well as a recent strategy shift by Google, offer the ability to do much of your online commerce on sites protected by https, which encrypts the data being shared back and forth. There are also different services which offer you storage that encrypts the data for you.
Make Sure You Don’t Overshare on Social Networks
- This should be obvious. Don’t post images of your credit card info (it’s been done) or post personal information like bank account numbers, or social security numbers on your social media profiles.