14 DAY TRIAL // A recent study performed by Wakefield Research reveals that over half of Americans think that digital clouds are affected by actual storms. Experts from Solutionary warn that such misconceptions can have serious consequences.
Many advertisements for cloud services lead to these misconceptions and experts highlight the fact that it’s important for users to understand what the cloud actually is.
In simple terms, the cloud is actually a computer that’s not located in the user’s home.
Cloud providers such as Amazon or Apple offer their customers the necessary storage space, computing power and security mechanisms to ensure that they don’t have to worry about these aspects when performing various tasks.
“Cloud computing follows the same rules as regular or local computing. This means that the same access which is allowed to you by Apple, Amazon, etc., is also available to hackers to hijack or destroy your data. The only bridge between the weather and the virtual cloud is the physical environment, like power,” Solutionary’s Erik Barnett explained.
Hurricane Sandy has shown that there is a connection between cloud computing and a physical storm when the power supply at data centers is affected. However, that’s about the only similarity between “the cloud” and clouds.
As Barnett emphasizes, it’s important to keep this in mind when looking for a cloud provider.
“Knock out the power to a hosted facility and you may affect their cloud computing environment. Other than that, there is no bridge where one can affect the other. Keep this in mind the next time you’re thinking about the cloud,” the expert wrote.
“Considering the real nature of the cloud will help you make the right decision by asking the right questions from the cloud provider (security, availability and privacy).”