How do you feel about "Cloud Computing"?

[xtreemchaos]

im not Paraniod "at the moment" but I have backup drives for my backup drives ...

 

[64K]

I keep my important files, photos, etc on my home PC's, a USB drive in my safe deposit box and on my work PC. The possibility of my house, my bank and my office at work burning to the ground at the same time don't seem likely to me.

 

[windwhirl]

I keep my important files, photos etc on my home PC's, a USB drive in my safe deposit box and on my work PC. The possibility of my house, my bank and my office at work burning to the ground at the same time don't seem likely to me.

A few years ago I found my boss saved some pictures on his work computer and the office server. He gave me a similar answer when I asked about it.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Not all businesses support employees storing personal files on business computers - nor should they, IMO. It could set the business and business owner/executives up to some serious liability issues should some of those personal files turn out to contain illegal information, images, etc.

Even just the possibility the employee files may contain malware should be enough incentive for bosses to disallow it. This would be especially pertinent if the company computers contain customer's personal information, like credit card numbers.

 

[moproblems99]

I keep a backup copy of all my important files (including my password manager and password database) on a HD and a couple thumb drives in a safe deposit box at my bank.

Ah, safe deposit boxes. Just reading an article about how they aren't actually safe.

They are like the cloud of the physical good storage world. Well, as close to the cloud as you can get.

 

[64K]

Ah, safe deposit boxes. Just reading an article about how they aren't actually safe.

They are like the cloud of the physical good storage world. Well, as close to the cloud as you can get.

I'm curious. Could you link the article please.

 

[Vayra86]

I think you can doubt every method of storage, because that is what cloud always really means, its just another way to store data and use it.

For myself I don't see the purpose of cloud whatsoever. The requirement of an active internet connection that is subject to all sorts of variables (you cannot control) is something I don't like about it. The only real advantage of internet is that its more care-free - you give away responsibility of care over data (in part) to a service provider. I've been taught its good to maintain control and be as independent as possible, cloud does not fit that agenda very well. And with that control comes responsibility and with that comes a consciousness and learning curve about storing data. I think those are valuable lessons.

Its the same as relying entirely on car navigation. If the sucker fails, you're screwed. I really like the idea of still being able to read a map properly. And I can still lose the map somewhere, but then its my own fault. A problem with technology is that we keep stacking more and more blocks on top of another, and in some way each block is required to keep the tower intact. So its good to know how to work with the basics.

On a higher level, a more long term consideration for me is that companies should not hold too much of our data, out of our sight and direct control. Information is power. That being said I do understand why companies use cloud services, because good & reliable services benefit from scale, and a single enterprise can never get to a scale like for example Azure has on offer today. And if they could, it'd be core business.

 

[moproblems99]

I'm curious. Could you link the article please.

I'll have to see if I can find it. I don't have a clue where I was reading it.

Edit:

This wasn't the same article that I read but it has similar information: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/19/business/safe-deposit-box-theft.html

In the grand scheme of things, it appears safe deposit boxes are about as safe as BTC. That said, you ought to know what contract your are signing.

 

[Bill_Bright]

I don't feel that safe deposit box story fairly illustrates how safe they really are. There are always exceptions to the rule and this bank error clearly was one of those - and no doubt, a pretty extreme exception too.

And of course, that story has nothing to do with failing to protect your data/valuables from tornadoes, hurricanes, fires and floods.

No safe can guarantee with 100% certainty it can protect, forever, its contents. But I sure would trust a bank safe deposit box over the cloud, my neighbor's house, my kids' houses, or even the other side of my own house. If you know of one more secure than inside the vault at your local bank, I would be interested in learning about it.

And besides, as I noted above, I said to a "copy" of the important files there. Every backup policy should include multiple backup copies of your data. Not just one. And preferably, at least one copy should be "off-site". Definitely the only backup should NOT be on a USB hard drive sitting on your computer desk, or a thumb drive sitting in your computer desk drawer.

In the grand scheme of things, it appears safe deposit boxes are about as safe as BTC.

Yeah right!

 

[Vayra86]

I don't feel that safe deposit box story fairly illustrates how safe they really are. There are always exceptions to the rule and this bank error clearly was one of those - and no doubt, a pretty extreme exception too.

And of course, that story has nothing to do with failing to protect your data/valuables from tornadoes, hurricanes, fires and floods.

No safe can guarantee with 100% certainty it can protect, forever, its contents. But I sure would trust a bank safe deposit box over the cloud, my neighbor's house, my kids' houses, or even the other side of my own house. If you know of one more secure than inside the vault at your local bank, I would be interested in learning about it.

And besides, as I noted above, I said to a "copy" of the important files there. Every backup policy should include multiple backup copies of your data. Not just one. And preferably, at least one copy should be "off-site". Definitely the only backup should NOT be on a USB hard drive sitting on your computer desk, or a thumb drive sitting in your computer desk drawer.

Yeah right!

Absolutely right there is a difference and it is often overlooked in our digital reality... but a physical presence is one you can touch, break into, send an angry mob towards, etc. A cloud based solution is gone before you can say 'wait! my stuff is in there'.

Totally different degrees of control. While data in the cloud may never get truly lost, what point is that advantage if you can not access it when push comes to shove?

In the grand scheme of things, it appears safe deposit boxes are about as safe as BTC. That said, you ought to know what contract your are signing.

There is no grand scheme, there is only you and your own data. The rest is irrelevant in our context, right? BTC is the least secure of them all. Not only is it cloud, but its also comprised of air. Its existence is only justified because a bunch of people think its a good idea, not because it is tied to the real economy in any tangible way. Or put differently, we could lose BTC and all crypto tomorrow and nobody would give a damn. There will be no government stepping in to pick up the scraps, no compensation, no nothing and all other wheels in the economy keep turning. So you had a wallet, secure and well managed... external factors can instantly turn it into garbage data.


Important note: these are also all great reasons to keep our physical currencies. Banks are steadily pushing to full digitalization of currency. Word of the wise: take every necessary step to prevent that from happening. Its great leverage you won't want to lose.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Important note: these are also all great reasons to keep our physical currencies. Banks are steadily pushing to full digitalization of currency. Word of the wise: take every necessary step to prevent that from happening. Its great leverage you won't want to lose.

Literally could not agree more.

 

[svan71]

If your privacy is of any concern using cloud based anything requires a degree of trust I simply do not posses.

 

[John Naylor]

I just left my cousins , he put a spade through the cable wire so they are in that boat.
Cute and funny, him explaining they had electricity for his 10 year old daughters telly but no signal wire, she did not get how a telly can work but not have a signal.
I was going to offer to fix it until I saw where it's cut , should have taken a pic.
A guys coming tomorrow though so np.

Cute story .... but dad can spend time and entertain his daughter. I have the same issue w/ TC with satellite so we're giving it up. As soon as i figure out how to stream SEC Foorball, it's gone.

But it's another thing when you have 3-4 employees sitting around ... it's a double loss. You are losing billing rates for $60 - $180 and hour and you still have to pay them salary, benefits, FICA, Workman's Comp, etec, etc.

Ah, but you could very easily use DVDR/BDR optical media or even external HDD/SSD options, making use of the cloud in your case a choice not a necessity.

Safe deposit box. I also have backups in my storage unit.

I have a fire safe but the combination + key is a PITA. I store off site.... every case should come with a plug in backplane for hot swap storage and a external drive bay to make this simple.

 

[lexluthermiester]

If your privacy is of any concern using cloud based anything requires a degree of trust I simply do not posses.

Right there with you.

I have a fire safe but the combination + key is a PITA. I store off site...

That's a good idea.

Looking at the progress of the poll, an interesting pattern has emerged. There seems to be a great deal of variety of response across the entries spectrum of usage scenario's, from "love it" to "hate it". The middle ground is the most interesting as it's seemingly all over the place. Very interesting indeed.

 

[Boatvan]

Though this is a purely enterprise point of view, I have mixed views on the move to cloud/vendor-hosted solutions.

For legacy applications that were hosted on site at my place of work, I welcome an upgrade to vendor-hosted/cloud versions because the old ones were out of date and were a burden for us in the IT department when something broke. Moving to the cloud/vendor-hosted in my experience has improved simplicity for both our users and, more importantly, us in the IT dept. An added bonus is that the people hosting/maintaining the application are the ones who wrote it. So they can patch without bothering us and we have some confidence in their abilities.

On the other hand, having Active Directory in the cloud is a notion that scares me. I feel better for things like that being on site. Perhaps it is my lack of experience with Azure AD, but I wouldn't like if that went down for some reason and there wouldn't be anything I could do about it. I think mission critical stuff can stay on prem for now.

 

[lexluthermiester]

On the other hand, having Active Directory in the cloud is a notion that scares me. I feel better for things like that being on site. Perhaps it is my lack of experience with Azure AD, but I wouldn't like if that went down for some reason and there wouldn't be anything I could do about it. I think mission critical stuff can stay on prem for now.

Been told that data loss can happen if the connection doesn't stay active. This another aspect of cloud storage that worries me.

 

[Boatvan]

Been told that data loss can happen if the connection doesn't stay active. This another aspect of cloud storage that worries me.

That does not give me warm fuzzies if you know what I mean... We have a cloud directory in Gsuite that syncs with AD nightly. Connection issues put a halt to this. If we ever get to a place where it can cache changes as a guaranteed fail safe, I'd feel better. I honestly do not know much about cloud AD, but off the bat the notion is terrifying.

 

[Solaris17]

Been told that data loss can happen if the connection doesn't stay active. This another aspect of cloud storage that worries me.

Not sure by who.

That does not give me warm fuzzies if you know what I mean... We have a cloud directory in Gsuite that syncs with AD nightly. Connection issues put a halt to this. If we ever get to a place where it can cache changes as a guaranteed fail safe, I'd feel better. I honestly do not know much about cloud AD, but off the bat the notion is terrifying.

Azure AD is for the most part authentication only/MDM/SSO. Azure AD doesnt do GPO services so most environments link local DCs to the azure AD service. AFAIK in cases of link failure the local DC (since it is the one incrementing) is always authoritative. So Azure AD almost runs like a readonly-DC with out the usefulness of GPOs or software deployments.

 

[Boatvan]

@Solaris17 I defer to more knowledgeable folks (like yourself) on that. If that is the case, I don't see too many issues then.

I do present this then: Why switch? What is the benefit for the enterprise subscribing? Legit want to know. Thanks in advance.

 

[Solaris17]

@Solaris17 I defer to more knowledgeable folks (like yourself) on that. If that is the case, I don't see too many issues then.

I do present this then: Why switch? What is the benefit for the enterprise subscribing? Legit want to know. Thanks in advance.

Honestly, I couldnt answer. I rely on GPO and other advanced AD functions to run business. From what I've seen though personally via the azure ad cp (I linked my local DCs) it works like a competitor to google cloud domain (or whatever the GP domain service is called). It appears to be geared for mobile workforce. You can configure MDM and SSO and give access privileges for things like onedrive for biz sharepoint and o365. It also provides remote device wipe etc.

In that regard there are a lot of smb and decentralized software dev companies that would probably benefit from this approach. Its just not aimed at like internal corps; though some of the platform access is useful if you have one or two people traveling and need some resources, since instead of deploying a VPN on a field users laptop you can point them to azure AD and they can access docs and other 365 umbrella stuff without the need to stand up an internal VPN server or direct access server for remote docs.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Boatvan]

Honestly, I couldnt answer. I rely on GPO and other advanced AD functions to run business. From what I've seen though personally via the azure ad cp (I linked my local DCs) it works like a competitor to google cloud domain (or whatever the GP domain service is called). It appears to be geared for mobile workforce. You can configure MDM and SSO and give access privileges for things like onedrive for biz sharepoint and o365. It also provides remote device wipe etc.

In that regard there are a lot of smb and decentralized software dev companies that would probably benefit from this approach. Its just not aimed at like internal corps; though some of the platform access is useful if you have one or two people traveling and need some resources, since instead of deploying a VPN on a field users laptop you can point them to azure AD and they can access docs and other 365 umbrella stuff without the need to stand up an internal VPN server or direct access server for remote docs.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Thanks for the info. I work in a public school district and as I mentioned before, we are a Google district. For my use-case, this won't benefit us.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Not sure by who.

Clients mainly.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Not sure by who.

Me either. Why? Because "the cloud" (at least by all the major providers) is not just one location (or "single point of failure"). When something is saved to the cloud, backup copies are created and multiple copies are immediately "propagated" literally around the globe. In fact, I said this on this forum several times before that one of my own personal concerns about cloud storage is not that my data will get lost, but that one of the many copies will be hacked! And that's why I never put my clients' billing information out there. I don't fear it getting lost - I just don't trust cloud storage to keep the data "secure". The lesson there is always encrypt your files before putting them out there.

I have used cloud storage to temporarily save files I wanted to share with others and when I put something there, I could always easily see the copy made it out there in tact. And of course, operating systems don't delete a source file until it verifies the destination file "moved" (cut and pasted) correctly. If "copied" (instead of moved), then of course, the source file is still there anyway.

Even with "cloud content collaboration" software that lets users in different locations edit the same document in the cloud, if one person deletes that document, it (and several previous versions) can easily be recovered.

So if the person copies something to the cloud, then immediately deletes the source file and "wipes" their drives, multiple copies and backups are already "out there" and can be recovered. I am NOT saying a file cannot be lost. I am saying if a client reports data loss, it was due to "user error" and not the fault of the cloud.

 

[FinneousPJ]

It's a multifaceted issue.

At work cloud storage is great.

At times video/audio streaming is a convenience; at others it's not.

Game streaming I have not tried yet. I assume it would suffer from lag.

In general I do not use cloud services for my personal stuff. I do use it for work and school.

 

[Steevo]

There is no cloud, it's just someone else's computer. I have full control of my computer, and almost no control of theirs.