In today’s digital world, you tend to store more and more of your personal information and documents online through apps, cloud storage services, email providers, and more. This offers convenience – you access your data anywhere at any time on multiple devices. When it comes to keeping personal notes like journal entries, financial records, or client details confidential, are online services trustworthy?
Risks of data breaches
Any online service that stores user data faces risks like hacking, malware attacks, or insider threats that could lead to unauthorized access. Over the past decade, many major online entities from social networks to retailers have fallen victim to data breaches impacting millions of users. Even robust security precautions cannot guarantee safety 100% of the time. So entrusting private notes to the cloud always carries some risk of exposure through a breach.
Access controls in place
What is a safenote? To mitigate this risk, online services invest heavily in access controls like encryption, network security, rigorous authentication procedures, and internal controls on who views stored data. For example, major cloud storage providers use advanced 256-bit AES encryption to scramble user files, meaning only those with the decryption keys decode the data. Strict need-to-know access policies limit employee visibility into user accounts. Such measures make it extremely difficult for unauthorized parties to break in and access your private data.
Terms of service and privacy policies
Before selecting an online service for storing confidential information, carefully review their terms of service and privacy policy is essential. This legal documentation spells out exactly what the provider will and will not do with your data. Key things to evaluate are:
- What purposes do they use data for – only core service delivery or also marketing, analytics, etc?
- What 3rd parties do they share or sell data to?
- What jurisdictions user data is stored and processed in?
- Whether and how they notify users in case of a data breach?
- Are options available to users for permanently deleting data?
Vetting these aspects will reveal whether a provider’s data handling practices align with your privacy priorities for sensitive information like private notes.
Extra precautions you take
Beyond relying on the online service provider, there are also precautions individuals take to add extra layers of security around private data stored in the cloud:
- Using robust passphrases for account access rather than single words or names and enabling two-factor authentication
- Compressing and encrypting notes or other sensitive files stored in the cloud yourself before uploading using zip utilities, Microsoft Office password protection, or tools like Veracrypt
- Periodically downloading copies of critical notes and documents to local devices as backup rather than relying solely on the cloud
- Purging cloud accounts of non-essential data and notes on at least an annual basis
- Considering using an online note app that offers end-to-end encryption like Standard Notes rather than more general cloud storage
Keeping any data online involves calculated risks outside of the user’s direct control. With private notes containing personal details or confidential information, more care and caution are warranted to balance convenience and privacy.