Keeping your data safe in the Age of the Cloud

Polly wants our advice on how to be safe “in the cloud”
Until I read about the “cloud” in your newsletters I had never heard that term. Now I’m hearing everywhere. What do you suggest we do to stay safe in the cloud? I love your newsletters. Many times I will read something in them and then months later, start hearing about it everywhere else. You guys are the greatest! Polly V.

Our Answer
Thanks so much, Polly. The Cloud is here to stay. At first it seemed like it might be a passing fad, but Adobe, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, and thousands of others are embracing it.  Even Microsoft Office is now in the cloud.

The cloud makes a lot of sense, if you think about it.  A lot of people are connecting to the Internet in many ways: tablet computers; smart phones; laptops; desktops; PDAs; TVs and even game boxes. The Cloud makes a lot of sense because it allows you to store files and data in a central location, so you can get access to them from any connected device you’re using – from anywhere on Earth.

Unfortunately, sometimes the cart gets before the horse and things happen. Generally most people do not use very strong passwords. Why? Because everyone is afraid they’ll forget their passwords. So they make up simple ones. Unfortunately, miscreants and vile villains know this. The most common passwords are 12345 and password. Do you believe that? It’s true. If you use your name, your birthday, your telephone number, or dictionary words as passwords, you are putting your data at risk. It’s that simple. In the age of the cloud you can no longer rely on simple passwords to protect you. There’s no reason in the world you need to worry about forgetting strong passwords. EB and I don’t even know our own passwords. We generate them with Roboform (limited free/unlimited pro version available) or LastPass (unlimited free version available) and we let those programs remember our passwords for us. Both programs will fill in the Web forms for you – automatically too.  You may be shaking your head because we said we don’t even know our own passwords, but it is absolutely true.  All our passwords are at least 11 characters long, and consist of random numbers, letters, and symbols.

Your passwords are you key to your security  in the Cloud. If your passwords are not strong passwords, it’s almost like giving someone the key to your data. In the age of the Cloud, you simply can no longer  risk using simple passwords. If you continue to use simple passwords, and your data is stolen or your accounts are violated, you can’t blame the Web site or the Cloud — the blame rests solely on you.

1. Revise ALL of your passwords – now. Get a good password manager. LastPass is free and stores unlimited passwords. LastPass even comes with a password generator. It will generated strong passwords and remember them for you. And please: Never use one password for everything. Each site you log into should have a different password. Don’t write your passwords down on paper, then leave that paper lying near the computer. Sooner or later you’re going to come to the conclusion that the best way to handle passwords is with a password manager. We’re telling you now – if you keep using simple passwords, you’re going to be very sorry. It’s not a question of “if”, it’s a question of “when”.  Last week we got two emails from Hotmail users who said their accounts were hacked. Hacked is an ambiguous word. If they were using 12345 as a password, it doesn’t take an experienced hacker to “hack” an account, does it?

2. Don’t store email messages or documents containing sensitive information (like credit card numbers, social security numbers, etc.) in the cloud. If something happens and your account is breached, all your sensitive information will be available to the miscreant who broke into your account.

The age of the cloud is here to stay – and it’s going to keep growing. We’re all going to have to do our part to keep ourselves safe in the Cloud.