Saving Docs in Cloud

stormie

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For a few years now, I have had my documents auto saved in the cloud (either OneDrive or Dropbox). Every two weeks I also back my work up on a USB drive.
Yesterday someone mentioned to me that the cloud is not a good place to save work, since it could be hacked. Any thoughts?

(Mods--if this is the wrong forum for this question, please move it.)
 

AW Admin

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Yes, it could be hacked.

Don't put anything with important personal data—billing or credit card accounts, or similar documents on the cloud.

It's not likely mind, but it is possible.

Don't put private information on the 'net.

Do use a strong password, and a password manager.
Use passwords that are unique.
Don't reuse passwords.
Use longer passwords (17 or more characters, mixed upper and lower cases letters, numbers and punctuation marks or symbols).

Unless you're Stephen King or similar, I truly think it's safe to have your mss. in the cloud, but always make redundant backups.

Have a backup on a local removable media, like a USB drive or portable drive, email drafts to yourself, and use a cloud service.
 

Maryn

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Yeah, what she said.

Also worth noting that those strong, single-site passwords that are so hard to remember should not be stored in a document on your computer even though that's so very convenient, since that can be hacked and then everything accessed.
 

Dennis E. Taylor

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blacbird

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I don't store anything on "the cloud". I have a variety of personal physical storage devices, and do multiple storages of documents on those. They are cheap, under my control, and easy to work with. I see no good reason to put my documents out into the ether.

caw
 

Al X.

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I agree that no important personal information should be stored in a cloud, but for my author works, I find Onedrive to be great. I love being able to access my 'stuff' from either the home or office, seamlessly, and it is also an off-site back up option. In fact, I used to keep the local version of my documents as my working copy, but I haven't done that in a long time.

I was one of the first 500 people to sign up for Hotmail. That was... 21 years ago, evident by a Wiki search. No data loss, no hacks, sure, could happen, but, good track record.
 

Alexys

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"The cloud" is just an obfuscating term for "somebody else's computer". As everyone has already said, it's probably safe to store a manuscript containing no personally identifiable information of significance there, but make absolutely sure you have a local backup as well, just in case the cloud service pulls the plug/goes bankrupt/has its servers confiscated as part of a lawsuit.
 

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I don't store anything on "the cloud". I have a variety of personal physical storage devices, and do multiple storages of documents on those. They are cheap, under my control, and easy to work with. I see no good reason to put my documents out into the ether.

caw

The advantage of the cloud is that it's remote, so if your house burns down, you don't lose all your data along with everything else you own.
 

stormie

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The advantage of the cloud is that it's remote, so if your house burns down, you don't lose all your data along with everything else you own.
This is what I've always thought but wondered, what if my computer was hacked and my writings stolen.

I only store my writings in the cloud (as well as on a USB). And for banking, etc, that's password protected as well and I use the in-private browsing on my desktop with WPA2 wifi password that is long and has numbers, letters, caps....

Also, is there a way to password protect OneDrive? My sign-in on my desktop is password protected, but I access OneDrive without it.
 

JDlugosz

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My sister did suffer a house fire, so I know the possibility is very real. I copied my archive to a bare drive, stored in a padded Peliken case, entrusted with a relative. I mean to make one once a year.
 

cmhbob

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Another password service to use is LastPass. You need to remember one password. That's it. It generates any password combination you want up to 100 characters. The passwords are stored on their servers.

www.lastpass.com
 

Jason

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Echoing the sentiments of others - cloud storage is always “someone else’s computer” so never put anything that can be used for identity in cloud storage. If you do use cloud storage, implement password security whereby you not only have high levels of encryption (Upper case, lower case, numbers, special characters, etc.), but you are also changing it frequently.

Like others have said, there are advantages to cloud storage though for seamlessly moving files between devices. I use Dropbox, Box, and Google Drive heavily - with substantial password protection in place, but I never put personal info out there. If someone were to hack my cloud all they’d see is a bunch of raw pics, Scrivener files, and my frequent traveler #’s (no passwords) and that sort of stuff.

Oh, there may be a few videos online too of when I’ve rented cars and wanted to document condition at checkout...
 

catesquire

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I strongly suspect that, in the case of your cloud being hacked, having the hacker maliciously get a Big 5 publishing deal will not be a big concern. It's just not the data they're looking for, and they might not even be a native reader of the language you're writing in. ;)

As others have said, redundant storage is the key. I personally write in GDocs. Every day I write, I download a copy of the doc and save it on my personal computer. Every few weeks, I archive the most current copy in my email and a USB I keep on my keychain. As long as Google doesn't go bankrupt and unexpectedly shut its Drive + email servers on the same day my laptop lights on fire and I lose my car keys, the most I'll lose is a few weeks of work. That would be a really crappy day.

Password-wise, sheer length is your friend. You don't need to make something hard with numbers/symbols: passphrases are much easier. EX: m0Nk3Y!123 is less secure (and harder to remember) than "mypasswordismonkeyalllowercase". Once you're in the 20+ character range, it would take an average of hundreds of years for a hacker to randomly guess your password. Better to do something long and easy to remember, than short and you-have-to-write-it-down-(where-someone-could-find-it).
 
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