Yes, the Cloud is Very Dangerous
I wrote a blog post back in May 2019 on this site. In fact it was my first post on the site. The title of the blog was “The cloud is dangerous?” I also answered the question why is the cloud dangerous?
I listed a few reasons why the cloud is dangerous:
- Anytime you store data on the Internet you are at risk for a cyberattack.
- You can be sure someone else is looking at your data.
- Remember Edward Snowden who breached the data at the NSA? Since he worked there, this is called an “Insider Threat”
- Uncle Sam is watching you. Once your data is in the cloud, you not only need to worry about competitors stealing your data, but you need to worry about the Government spying on you.
- If your data is stored on the cloud for your clients, and it gets stolen, then you may be Legally Liable for the loss of data.
- If your data is not mission-critical, you do not need to worry about security and availability, but on the other hand if you data is mission-critical, you should be sure to invest in a cloud and cloud provider that is capable of providing a level of protection which aligns with your needs. Imagine calling your provider to find out why your cloud appears to be down, but you can only reach a recording, or worse, you can only reach a robot. But reaching a human engineer is difficult if not impossible.
There are many more reasons the cloud is not a safe bet.
How about the following scenario:
In 2023, Chinese hackers infiltrated Microsoft’s cloud servers and stole data belonging to senior U.S. government officials, including data and emails from the commerce secretary, the U.S. ambassador to China and others involved in national security work. Hackers were able to access tens of thousands of emails from the Defense Department.
Reference
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/07/12/us-government-emails-compromised-by-china-based-espionage-group.html
If Microsoft cannot keep your data secure, then who can?
Can you think of additional reasons why the cloud is not safe? If you would like to contribute to this post please add a comment.
I hope that helps,
Jim