TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

With respect, who do think is going to go browsing your data in the cloud? The real dangers to your privacy in this electronic world are breaches of major databases (such as the Equifax breach), search engines such as Google, Public and relational data bases, poor computing practices, etc.

if you buy anything for other than cash, there is a record in a credit bureau file. If you buy property, there is a public tax record, if you use a search engine or a browser, there is a record of everywhere you’ve been unless you take precautions, if you write checks, everyone you give one to has your account and routing number. Your SSN, credit card data, banking data, military records and medical records are already in the cloud because the vast majority of businesses and institutions (including the federal govt.) uses the cloud for storage. I could go on, but you get the idea.

You can’t change those things, but If your privacy is important, encrypt your data in the cloud, use two factor authentication (and not a texted code for the 2nd) for every password when available (which should all be different), and use an anonymizer/VPN when you browse. Some hacker going through your personal data in your personal cloud account (especially if you encrypt it) is probably one of the lowest threats to your privacy.

Traveller_Jeff

I'm using Backblaze. Their FAQ contains a question regarding degradation from their cloud. Their response was: "Backblaze uses a lossless compression method - zip. This means that when you restore your files, they are a bit-for-bit identical to the originals. We do not use any lossy compression such as jpeg."

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

That long black cloud is comin' down
I feel my files have degraded on me ...

anotherview Loc: California

Good morning. Thank you for your guidance re protecting my privacy in a digital environment.

Just so you know, I was born way before the advent of the Internet, colossal databases subject to breach, and rampant online intrusiveness. Some if not most of my personal activity has never been documented by digital means, and thus becomes not subject to digital searches.

I note that the central government years ago authorized a level of monitoring of all digitized communications, justified in the interests of public safety and national security. This way, supposedly, law enforcement can detect, for example, Muslim terrorist plots early and so prevent their fruition. Our personal privacy has become compromised by these two rationales.

Given so, I for one watch carefully what I say in e-mails, text message, and online comments.

In closing, I confess my efforts have limited effect in the face of extreme government measures to profile my existence. I submitted myself to a rigorous background check when I applied for a Sentri Pass. The State Department, Homeland Security, and likely other government agencies scrutinized my activity and status going way back. I suppose my years in the military showed in the record. My application for the pass required me to submit my recent tax return information. So the IRS became involved. On and on.

As to participation in the Cloud, who can say with assurance its freedom from hacking? The cybercriminals and similar bad guys have hacked into the databases of major government institutions and of big companies including banks. For now, I will avoid the Cloud. I store my photographs on an external hard drive. This storage seems adequate to my purposes.

Have a good day.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

I do appreciate your (and my) discomfort as to the lack of privacy in today’s world - who knows when the NSA is listening? I am chagrined to say that the data storage company I worked for at the time provided the storage for NSA’s project Carnivore, although we did not know the use when we sold it. My thought is that the vast majority of hackers are looking for nice, neat databases which include names, addresses and especially SSNs and account numbers. In the last two years, I’ve had both my bank account number and SSN compromised, and my guess is the the SSN came from the Equifax data breach. Both were a PIA to fix, but while you can change your checking account number, you can’t change your SSN, and that and my name was all the thief needed to open two Capital One backed instant accounts at two major merchants. The net-net is that I, like you, am sensitive to the issue of maintaining what little privacy we have left. I will say that when I worked for a global file system company (used by the US govt. among others), cloud based storage was a necessary part of our system, so I had the occasion to both work with and visit Amazon S3 and Google data centers, and I was impressed with their reliability and data security and I have no compunction about keeping the DR copy of my data in S3, knowing it is protected far better than I could.

Btw, during that time, Amazon had one customer whose data was compromised. It wasn’t one of ours, but it made all the IT news rags, so a detailed investigation was carried out as to the path for the attack. It turned out that the customer, who used only single factor authentication (password) had the password compromised at his place of business. The customer ran his entire SW development business in the cloud, including computing applications as well as data. When the company’s admin received the extortion threat through his administrator’s console (which should have been a red flag that they had complete access), he told them to pack sand. The hacker then, after a second denied request for $, erased all the company’s data, and their customer’s lack of confidence in them ultimately caused them to go under. Case in point: single factor passwords are a very weak form of security. Set up two factor authentication on all your important accounts if possible. You can either carry a key, use an authentication ap on your phone or receive texts. Our IT guy points out that receiving texts for the 2nd authentication has the potential for SIM card duplication, so he prefers the authentication ap, but I personally think that is pretty far fetched. The phone ap is free and keys, if you choose that method, are about $30. A bit off subject, but perhaps relevant to the cloud security question.

I hope you have a nice day as well - cheers.

nikonbrain Loc: Crystal River Florida

Do you you mean like 50 shades of grey? now that could get interesting...Ha