Social media services such as Twitter and Facebook.Cloud backup services such as Backblaze and CrashPlan.Photo and video services such as Flickr and Instagram.Online documentation services such as Google Docs and Office 365.Document sharing and storage services such as Dropbox and Box.The original provider might not even know where the computing resources are coming from.ĭespite this obscure chain of command, there are no shortages of cloud services ready to receive and store your data across geographically dispersed data centers. To complicate matters, your cloud service might actually be turning to another provider for computing resources, and that provider might be contracting with yet another company to provide the actual hardware and data storage. ![]() That means all those “artistic” photos you took in your Las Vegas hotel room could very well have made their way from your smartphone to the nearest North American data center to other North American data centers to centers in Europe and beyond. It also applies to the data itself.Ĭloud services routinely copy customer data to multiple data centers, often in separate parts of the world, to ensure the data is always available in the quickest way possible and to maintain backup copies should a disaster occur. This can apply to servers or power supplies or network switches or any number of components. To ensure that users can access their files when they need them, the provider builds redundancy into its systems so that if a component goes down, another is in place to take over. No provider wants to develop a reputation for being unreliable (or unsecure, but that’s a separate issue). Users have come to expect their files to be kept in sync and available from all devices at all times. The user accesses the file via the Internet directly from the Dropbox servers, which contain the most recent file versions, along with earlier versions.Ī service provider such as Dropbox has a lot at stake when it comes to delivering reliable services. If that device is a smartphone or tablet, the file is not stored locally on the device. ![]() The user should be able to access the updated file from any device in relatively short order. The Dropbox syncing process is ongoing and almost instantaneous and for the most part invisible to the user. If the file is updated on the laptop, then the syncing is reversed. If the user modifies a file on the desktop, Dropbox automatically syncs the file to the cloud servers and from there syncs the file to the laptop. The desktop and laptop will each host a local copy of the files. If files are stored locally, the service provides a mechanism for automatically backing them up to the cloud servers, whether you realize it or not, and keeping that data in sync among all your devices.įor example, a user with a Dropbox account might access files from a desktop, laptop, smartphone, and tablet. The device you use to access those files might store a copy of them locally or simply provide an interface for accessing them from the cloud servers. From any place and any time, you just reach into the Internet ethers and, voila, your files are there. The cloud service houses your data on its own servers or on leased servers and facilitates the process of data exchange. Send in the Cloudsįor you multi-device mavericks always on the move, being able to stick files up there in the cloud has proven a popular mechanism for making those files available whenever you need them and on whatever device you’re using. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to guarantee that anything you send to the cloud ever disappears completely, no matter what procedures you follow to ensure that it does. ![]() Deleting a file in the cloud does not always mean the file is deleted. What happens to those files you thought were deleted?Īctress Mary Elizabeth Winstead, one of the celebrities targeted by the drooling hordes, claims she had deleted her hacked photos years ago. That’s not to diminish the violation of privacy experienced by the likes of Jennifer Lawrence and Kate Upton-or the harm done to Apple’s reputation, on the eve of its September 9 hoopla, no less-but it does point to a serious concern of the cloud that’s often overlooked. There might be medical records and personal profiles and credit card numbers and legal documents and a host of other information. Individuals and organizations alike are turning to the cloud in record numbers to share and store data, much of it sensitive and confidential. When it comes to the cloud, there’s a lot more at stake than just naked celebrity photos.
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