Now that everyone has a high-powered camera in their pocket, snapping hundreds of quality pics each day is effortless and fun. Provided you have somewhere to store them all, that is. Even the roomiest phones run out of space. Luckily, the cloud is there to satisfy the needs of even the most trigger-happy shutterbugs.
Have you ever stopped to wonder what the cloud is, anyway? How does it work? How does it handle your precious photos? Most importantly, is it safe to use? Here’s everything you’d want to know about storing photos in the cloud and then some.
What Is the Cloud, Exactly?
The cloud refers to the infrastructure, hardware, and software providers used to store data. Your photos aren’t stored in some nebulous space; they’re copied over to a hard drive on a cloud server in a data center and ready for access.
Uploading a photo to the cloud first breaks it up into smaller chunks called data packets. These are encrypted, meaning their contents get scrambled and are indecipherable if someone intercepts the packets. Once all the pieces arrive at the provider’s server, they’re reassembled into the photo you sent and encrypted again for safe storage.
How Do Cloud Providers Handle Your Photos?
Providers are legally and professionally bound to protect your photos via state-of-the-art means. However, the end-user license agreements (EULAs) you accept when signing up for the service also give them limited rights concerning access and sharing.
Thumbnail generation is the most common use of this access. Depending on the EULA, a cloud provider may also use image metadata like size, file type, or GPS location to help refine searches. Third-party sharing by these companies is rare and strictly regulated if it does exist.
Is Storing Photos in the Cloud Risky?
While super convenient for access from anywhere, anytime, cloud storage isn’t foolproof. The best providers employ strong cybersecurity measures to guarantee security, but human negligence and technical shortcomings can still cause exposure.
Photos are kept along with other files inside buckets, top-level folders that hold millions of files and are easy to scale. They are vulnerable to breaches if not configured correctly. Hundreds of thousands of these buckets are exposed and may leak stored files.
User error is another common risk. It’s easy for hackers to take over your cloud account if you use a weak password or one exposed in a previous data breach. It’s also common for users to share albums through public links, meaning anyone can access them if the people they give these links to aren’t trustworthy.
Can You Lose Photos Stored in the Cloud?
Yes, but it’s highly preventable. Providers keep several copies of your photos across different drives and servers, so hardware failure and power outages won’t cause losses. However, you risk losing photos if you stop paying for your storage subscription.
The details differ, but most major providers follow the same pattern. They’ll give you a small amount of free storage and unlock much more through monthly subscriptions. Cancelling won’t delete the photos outright, but you can’t upload more or sync unless you free up space or reactivate the sub. Deletion may happen eventually, after months or years of inactivity.
How to Stay Safe While Using Cloud Storage?
Keeping photos in the cloud safe is a matter of personal responsibility and proactive monitoring.
On the one hand, you’ll want to prevent cyber crooks from gaining access. That means securing the storage account with a strong, unique password and two-factor authentication.
It’s also important to stay cautious when transferring or accessing photos from a public network, like an airport or coffee shop Wi-Fi. Someone monitoring that network could use man-in-the-middle attacks to redirect you from a legitimate cloud storage site to a fake one and steal your credentials or trick you into downloading malware. An active Open VPN will encrypt the entire connection, not just photo transfers, ensuring your files and online activities remain private and secure.
All these measures mean things are locked down tight on your end, but the providers themselves can still come under attack. You’d want to know immediately if any leaked photos or files containing sensitive information about you appear on the dark web. Investing in data removal services that continuously scan broker sites, submit takedown requests, and alert you to any newly exposed personal information greatly reduces your online footprint and safeguards your sensitive data. If you’re evaluating the effectiveness of these services and want to know does Incogni work, customer experiences and insights are readily available online
Conclusion
Overall, the cloud makes storing photos easy and convenient, but it’s not risk-free. With some basic precautions, it can be a safe and reliable way to keep your memories backed up.
