Add nephophobia to the list of things I did not know existed. Nephophobia is the fear of clouds. You read that correctly. There are people who fear those puffy, white accumulations of gases in the sky. Even the mere presence of clouds or taking pictures of clouds can give them anxiety. It is believed that it is caused by a traumatic experience or could even be genetic. I may not be able to help someone overcome nephophobia, but I might be able to help allay someone’s fear about another cloud: the digital cloud.
Organizations utilize the cloud for many reasons including data storage, human resources, e-mail and security. The idea that there is not something physical on site holding the information can be scary for some organizations thinking about transitioning to the cloud. Change is scary. The stories of security breaches in the cloud, like the iCloud from a few years ago, do not help either. Even though those breaches were not due to a defect or patch issue in the cloud. Let me try to sooth some of the fears that can exist about the cloud.
According to a survey of about 300 IT security pros from Schneider Electric, about 42 percent of IT decision-makers and security managers say they are running security applications in the cloud. Almost half of those surveyed said they are likely or extremely likely to move their security operations to the cloud in a few years. In the survey, 57 percent of respondents believe the cloud is secure. The cloud has the most confidence in on-demand security, and that confidence is highest among IT professionals.
Feel safe in knowing that the cloud also uses encryptions, big algorithms, to hide cloud protected data. Hackers can’t access encryptions with the encryption key. The iCloud breach was due to a weakness in Apple’s password security system. Hackers just kept guessing until they were right. The iCloud was never actually breached.
You can also look to the positives that cloud computing can bring. It provides reduced IT costs, business continuity, ease of collaboration and it provides access to automatic updates.
If you are afraid to take the leap into the cloud yourself, we at CMIT Solutions of Tampa-Temple Terrace will handle it for you. Whether it’s helping backup your data with an unlimited amount of storage on with Barracuda’s Intronis or storing your files with Egnyte, we’ll make sure you are receiving all the benefits that the cloud can provide. While nephophobia is a real fear, hopefully the cost-effectiveness, safety, and trust of IT professionals in cloud computing helps make sure that any kind of digital nephophobia you may have is not.
