Cloud Storage Security

Posted on Wednesday, March 6th, 2019

Cloud storage is a cost-efficient method of storing data on remote servers that can be easily accessed on the Internet from anywhere. Information is not stored locally, so hardware losses or failures do not result in information loss. Cloud storage is growing rapidly and being implemented in personal and corporate environments, providing many benefits in both areas. However, such rapid growth and usage can lead to complications in privacy and security.

At Algonquin College, employees are granted access to public, internal, and sensitive information. Employees may work from an office, from home, or from other locations, using different computers from time to time. Cloud storage is thereby becoming an excellent business solution to meet employee’s changing needs.

However, if an employee is unfamiliar with the storage solutions offered by the College, they may feel inclined to use personal cloud storage accounts, such as Dropbox, Box, or Google Drive. When employees use a non-approved cloud storage solution such as these, the College loses central, administrator access to that corporate information. As well, the College loses control over the security policies that dictate the protection of that information. For example, employees will use their own passwords with Dropbox that may not meet the College’s IT05 security policy for password complexity or periodic replacement, and in the process lower the level of security afforded the information. The use of these non-approved cloud storage solutions also needlessly creates additional costs.

Please make sure you are using ITS approved cloud storage, OneDrive. Many businesses including Algonquin College use Microsoft OneDrive for Business, which is an approved, centrally paid for, and cloud storage solution.

You can find information regarding storing sensitive information at https://www.algonquincollege.com/infosec/faculty-staff/policies-and-practices/directives/

This page includes a list of policies that contain detailed information about the legislation and policies that apply to the protection and safe storage of sensitive information within internal databases.

Please familiarize yourself with it. Help Algonquin College better secure its corporate information.

Information Security is everybody’s business.

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