There are two different types of encryption protection to keep in mind when using cloud services. One is encrypted communication between you and the service, the other is encryption of the files stored in the cloud service.
To accomplish the first you should be using a SSL connection (https) to connect to the cloud service in question. If you are, that means that all traffic between your computer and the service is encrypted. So even if you are sending clear text traffic (such as emails) going over the SSL tunnel they are protected. Otherwise, anyone on the same network segment (such as the same unencrypted WiFi hotspot or many hotels) can see all your traffic. However, once they arrive at the cloud service, they may no longer be protected. In the case of email, it is encrypted when sent from your computer to the cloud service (Gmail, Hotmail, etc) but then sent "in the clear" from their servers to wherever its final destination is. That's where the second layer comes in. If you encrypt the data before sending it to the cloud service, then it is fully protected no matter what. An example of this would be encrypting your email with PGP before sending it through Gmail or Hotmail. If you are looking at a cloud file storage system, you can again do either. By default, DropBox sends everything over SSL but DropBox itself has the encryption keys to be able to decode the data stored on its system. There are advantages in doing this because it allows them to avoid storing duplicate files and also allows you to share files with others. If you use JungleDisk in conjunction with Amazon's S3 service, the JD client will encrypt all the data before it is sent to Amazon. All Amazon stores is random noise, and they have no way to decrypt it. There are third party solutions which will do the same thing with DropBox. In my opinion, you must use SSL whenever communicating with a cloud service. Whether or not you add encryption of the data itself on top of that is up to you. --------- Brian On Sun, Feb 5, 2012 at 3:18 PM, Anthony Q. Martin <[email protected]>wrote: > I think I'll incorporate 7-zip into my program usage. > > > On 2/4/2012 5:28 PM, Greg Sevart wrote: > >> I have almost universally replaced WinRAR with 7-Zip. It's faster, offers >> superior compression, and is completely free. It, too, offers 256-bit AES >> encryption. >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: >> hardware-bounces@lists.**hardwaregroup.com<[email protected]> >> [mailto:hardware-bounces@**lists.hardwaregroup.com<[email protected]>] >> On Behalf Of Anthony Q. >> Martin >> Sent: Saturday, February 04, 2012 3:01 PM >> To: [email protected].**com <[email protected]> >> Subject: Re: [H] Cloud Storage vs Thumbs& USB 2.5" Drives for Everyday >> Use >> >> Don't really get your point. I work on stuff but it's not critical from >> the >> stand point of other people seeing it. That's the only reason I see to >> encrypt something. I haven't had any problems with people deleting my >> stuff. So what is the bother? One can certainly spend a lot of time >> worrying and fretting over the rare. >> >> I just got a line2 call from bill (thanks) telling me about WinRAR as a >> encryption tool. I'll get back to you later, bill, got to go meet the GF >> (she wants to get a cheap phone). >> >> On 2/4/2012 3:44 PM, DSinc wrote: >> >>> Anthony, >>> If 'most of my stuff is unimportant', why to you save/archive it? >>> I sorta understand 'cloud', but I do still follow Josh's feelings too! >>> Best, >>> Duncan >>> >>> >>> On 02/04/2012 15:29, Anthony Q. Martin wrote: >>> >>>> Yeah..that's a good idea. Most of my stuff is unimportant. >>>> >>>> But who's looking at my stuff? Also, what are the ways to encrypt stuff? >>>> >>>> On 2/4/2012 3:09 PM, Joshua MacCraw wrote: >>>> >>>>> Whatever you use, make sure it's encrypted or that you only upload >>>>> something you don't care might be accessed. >>>>> On Feb 4, 2012 9:01 AM, "Zulfiqar Naushad"<[email protected]> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Dropbox is good but sugarsync is better. >>>>>> >>>>>> Sent from my iPhone >>>>>> >>>>>> On Feb 4, 2012, at 7:44 PM, "Anthony Q. >>>>>> Martin"<[email protected]> >>>>>> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>> With all of the free cloud storage available, I have been seduced >>>>>> into using it. Now, I rarely use all of my thumb drives and my >>>>>> 2.5-inch portable drives. It's just too easy to transfer files to >>>>>> dropbox so that I can work on them from different locations. >>>>>> >>>>>> BTW, dropbox is offering an extra 5GB of space to anyone who will >>>>>> beta test their new photo/movie upload service (you need to get >>>>>> v1.3.13 of their software and start uploading pics&movies). I now >>>>>> have 7 GB of storage there (I have cleared them out now as I really >>>>>> don't need them there, but this is a nice feature if you use a >>>>>> camera). It's funny too, because the 2GB they offered me for free >>>>>> had me feeling cramped (which do I always feel cramped when my >>>>>> storage is low? This is starting to feel like a disorder of sorts >>>>>> and is the reason why I own so much storage for a single person!!). >>>>>> They will sell you 50GB for $10/month, which is more space than I >>>>>> want and certainly more than I want to pay. Now, for free, and a >>>>>> little bit of effort, I have all the space I feel I need. >>>>>> >>>>>> >> >>
