Is iCloud’s ‘Epic Hack’ a game changer?

iCloud have raised new concerns in regards to the security of non-public data stored on cloud services. But there are two sides to each story.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak expressed his concerns in regards to the cloud to the Associated Press  fearing that customers have signed away content they might otherwise own after buying and warned of horrible problems the could result after migrating to the cloud:

“I really worry about everything going to the cloud,” he said. “I think it would be horrendous. i believe there are going to be plenty of horrible problems within the next five years.”

He added: “With the cloud, you do not own anything. You already signed it away” during the legalistic terms of service with a cloud provider that computer users must conform to.

“I like to feel that I own things,” Wozniak said. “A lot of individuals feel, ‘Oh, everything is actually on my computer,’ but I say the more we transfer everything onto the net, onto the cloud, the fewer we will have control over it.”

Backupify ‘s CEO Rob May takes issue  with Woniak’s analysis and respectfully disagrees:

Those that say you’€™re giving up control after you use the cloud must realize that there are easy fixes to controlling your data when it resides on a cloud environment. One of many easiest and best fixes is having a cloud backup in place.

In the on-premise world, backup is ready mitigating against the danger of information loss. In a cloud world, backup is that plus more. In a global where you data lives inside the cloud, backup is set keeping control of your data. When you’ve got a safe second copy, you can still sleep better at night knowing that whatever happens for your cloud provider, your data remains safe.

Do you really want a backup of your cloud backup? What happens if that “second copy” gets hacked? Is it another coverage in your cloud data or another potential vulnerability?

In light of the tech journalist Mat Honan’s Epic Hack  Apple has suspended Apple ID password resets over the phone and Amazon has closed the “last four-digit” loophole that allowed hackers to realize access to iCloud account.

But is it enough?

I still think about cloud services, only if they’re used with fair deal of precaution, as I outlined in yesterday’s post . I’m more dubious of online backup services because they have an inclination to be slow (nothing beats a native HDD or SSD backup), they don’t seem to be bootable, loss of control and the aptitude privacy issues (Dropbox, anyone?).

Honan’s exposure of iCloud’s porous password reset criteria sent shockwaves throughout the Mac community and that i fear that another high-profile hack of a commonly used service (like Google Drive) could do permanent and irrevocable harm to the cloud as a platform.

What’s your cloud data storage strategy in light of contemporary events? Have you ever changed anything about it? Chime within the Talkback below.

(I reached out to online backup providers  Carbonite 0 and 0 Mozy for comment and should update this post with their comments)