German Government Gives Safety Tips For Cloud Use

More and more people are making use of cloud services, which both benefits and risks entails. The reason for the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), part of the German Ministry of the Interior, to various tips to give.

While cloud providers are responsible for the safety and the use of cloud services is easy, data should not simply be placed in the cloud, says the BSI. So data can be sent unencrypted through which others can intercept and it is not always clear where the data is stored. Following several recommendations, however, can be made safely use the cloud, says the BSI. The department recommends that only access the cloud via a secure system.

It should be a secure password for cloud services and set login to the cloud via an unsecured Wi-Fi network can be avoided. In addition, operators must read the terms and conditions of the cloud service and figure out the location of the data centers used. In the case of sensitive or important information which should only be stored encrypted in the cloud.Finally, users must check how their data is deleted from the cloud. Some cloud providers store backups namely in different data centers.

Researchers Develop Scanner For Cloud Services

Researchers at two British universities have developed a scanner to prevent criminals steal confidential files in the cloud and upload illegal files to cloud services. The system is called Xdet , which stands for Extrusion detection.

Xdet makes a signature of private files and store them. The signature is then compared with the signatures of files exchanged with the cloud service. "This way, unauthorized uploads or downloads of potentially confidential data can be detected and prevented," the researchers compared ScienceDaily . Who argue that even upload illegal files to the cloud in this way can be noticed.

The Xdet software is placed between the cloud server and distributed file storage, instead of the perimeter of the cloud network. This has several advantages. So Xdet itself is protected by perimeter security solutions such as firewalls and IDS.In addition, it is scalable, and better in this way can the cloud provider to use network-based encryption to protect data during transport.

MEGA: PayPal Account Closed Due To Encryption

PayPal has the account of the online storage MEGA closed, according MEGA is due to the end-to-end encryption which it offers to users. That leaves the storage service of internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom in a blog posting know. MEGA states that it is aware of a report that the storage service as illegal cloud storage service was dismissed.

This US Senator Patrick Leahy Visa and Mastercard put under pressure not to accept payments for more MEGA. Then the credit card companies would have PayPal put under pressure not to process payments more for MEGA. MEGA showed opposite PayPal know that it is indeed a legitimate service and provided all kinds of statistics to prove this. Yet PayPal decided to discontinue the service towards MEGA.

MEGA would have made the payment service excuses and admitted that it was a legitimate service. One of the biggest stumbling blocks, however, the end-to-end encryption it offers, which is unknown what is offered via the cloud storage service. MEGA still pointed to the encryption models of other cloud storage services such as Apple, Dropbox and SpiderOak, but that would be no problem for the pay.

"I want to thank PayPal for supporting MEGA for such a long period. The pressure of Hollywood and the US government was just too big," said Kim Dotcom , founder of MEGA. Then he calls his followers to go use bitcoin now.