However, many very small businesses of the micro variety may not choose the business option when it comes to cloud storage. In theory that means that businesses have the edge over private users in terms of cloud security with this option. The good news, for business users, is that OneDrive does include encryption for business accounts. It’s a nice touch but given the lack of encryption it’s about as nice as closing the stable door once you-know-what has happened. OneDrive does allow personal users to opt for a two-stage authentication process, which means that if your data is accessed from an unfamiliar device, you’ll get a text message to confirm it’s you. In theory that should keep it nice and safe but in practice, well, it’s a wicked world out there and unencrypted data is simply not the safest way to store anything. This simply means that your data, which is stored in the Microsoft data centre is on view to anyone who has access to that data centre.
#Is microsoft onedrive secure for free
Whilst OneDrive provides 5GB data storage for free it doesn’t actually encrypt that data at all for its personal users. OneDrive, for personal users, is about as secure as your average postcard. OneDrive: What Security?Įncryption is the important bit when it comes to data storage online. Whilst both make storing data and working collaboratively from just about anywhere extremely smooth, unfortunately, there are one or two clouds on their horizons. This post looks at two of the big players in the cloud storage world: OneDrive and Dropbox. Back in those dark days, it was perfectly easy – and terrifyingly common – to accidentally leave top secret files containing the personal data of millions on a train.Ĭloud storage, along with the fact that it’s just so much less hassle than previous methods also has the huge advantages that – you can’t just leave it on a train – and that it is also intrinsically secure, right? Well, sort of. Those old school methods, however, all had their security issues. Things moved on and by the Middle Ages compact disks were all the rage and, not so long ago, around the time of the industrial revolution, Darwin was able to take advantage the USB flash drive to back up his more important works. Back in the stone-age, cave man and woman had to use something called a floppy disk (tongue in cheek) should they need to safeguard the blueprints for their flint axe-heads. Storing files, transferring them or backing them up has radically altered in just a decade.
DropboxĪ few years ago, cloud storage was more or less a complete mystery to most people, both in their personal and business lives. The Clash of The Cloud Storage Titans: OneDrive vs.