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What Cloud Storage Service Should You Use?

December 22, 2014

This is a question we get asked quite frequently. All too often we hear that law firms and corporations are transmitting client confidential information and even evidence via Dropbox. Not a good thing, especially if you have read the terms of service (TOS) instead of continually clicking ‘I accept’ and ‘I accept.’ The reality is that most of the cloud storage providers have a way to decrypt your data stored on its servers. If you read the TOS for OneDrive, Dropbox, iCloud, Box, Google Drive, etc., you will see a provision that states that the cloud provider will turn over the data to law enforcement or any other entity if served with proper court documents. This means they can decrypt the data in storage.

The exception and our recommendation is Spider Oak. Spider Oak is a “zero knowledge” service. You control the encryption keys when you create your ID and password. Spider Oak can’t decrypt the data since there is “zero knowledge” of the encryption key. To securely store your data in any cloud service, the user should be the one controlling the encryption key and NOT the vendor. If you want the world to see your nude selfies, go ahead and use iCloud  – otherwise select a secure storage service.

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Digital Forensics/Information Security/Information Technology
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