Medical Information

Medical data is subject to some fairly extensive security requirements – outlined under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Here’s the thing – most cloud providers aren’t actually required by law to follow it. What that means is that it falls on you to determine whether or not your service provider uses HIPAA-compliant encryption and security.

If they don’t, then you’re the one who gets in trouble if and when your information winds up compromised.

Anything pertaining to legal proceedings or finance falls under a similar purview to medical data –  to say nothing of the trouble it could cause for your business if someone gets hold of your banking information. Generally, this sort of stuff should be stored on a dedicated server or a local network – not a cloud platform. If you’re still insistent on putting your data online, best be sure your provider complies with SOX or FIPS (depending on whether you’re storing legal data or tax information).

If they don’t, then either find a new provider or find somewhere else to store your files.

Anything Mission-Critical

Last, but certainly not least, can you call to mind any data which, if it were made public, could completely decimate your organization’s edge on its competitors? Are you aware of any files which contain trade secrets, copyrights, or private information about your business? Keep all of that off the cloud – trust me.

Keep Your Head In The Cloud

The cloud is an incredibly powerful tool in the right hands. When used properly, it can enable a business to be more agile, effective, and efficient than ever before. That said, there are certain organizations that simply shouldn’t be using the cloud – or at the very least, should stick to a private cloud.