What Is The Best Cloud Storage for Sensitive Data?
Cloud storage can offer us the best protection against data breaches, more privacy online, and a means to protect our photos, videos, and more to ensure we never lose access to our important files.
However, due to the many options we have when choosing cloud storage, you may be left wondering which is the best cloud storage for sensitive data, and how these differ from the main cloud storage providers, such as Google or OneDrive.
To make this decision simpler, we will cover the different types of sensitive data and why you should choose the cloud to secure it. We will also cover some of the best cloud storage for sensitive data options currently available on the market, their features, and extra products and features they include.
With this information, you can choose the best cloud provider for you and start taking control over the privacy of your sensitive data for personal or business use.
Table of contents
- Types of sensitive data
- How to protect sensitive data in the cloud
- What is the best cloud storage for sensitive data?
Types of sensitive data
Sensitive data is defined as information that could harm you or your business if it is leaked online or in a data breach.
It can cover personal data, financial, legal, healthcare, and any other information or data that needs to be protected due to its confidential or private nature.
These kinds of data are protected by laws and compliance regulations to prevent misuse, theft, or unauthorized access, which is why the best cloud storage for sensitive data utilizes the best technologies to protect this information.
Here’s a breakdown of the kinds of sensitive data you need to protect online:
- Personal Identifiable Information (PII) is data tied to an individual, either directly or indirectly. Examples include your Full name, social security number, passport number, driver’s license, date of birth, personal addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses.
- Financial Data is information about a person’s or organization's accounts and transactions, including bank account or credit card numbers, invoices, income details, or payment history.
- Health and medical data have consistently been the biggest target for cyberattackers, with the most data breaches affecting this industry each year. It includes medical records, lab results, health insurance information, prescriptions, and mental health details.
- Legal information refers to legal proceedings or law enforcement records, such as court records, criminal history, legal contracts, government-issued IDs, and immigration status.
- Intellectual property is proprietary or other confidential information about a business that would cause harm to a company if exposed. This kind of data includes trade secrets, business plans, patents, source code, client lists, internal communications, or product designs.
- Authentication or access data is information that can give someone access to accounts or systems, such as passwords, PINs, security questions, and biometric data (fingerprints, facial recognition).
Now that we have a detailed outlook on the different types of your sensitive data, it’s time to see how the best cloud storage for sensitive data works to protect your files and information in the cloud.
How to protect sensitive data in the cloud
Zero-knowledge encryption
While all cloud storage is secure, not all cloud storage providers use the same encryption to protect sensitive data. The best way to ensure the privacy of your files in the cloud is by choosing a provider that includes zero-knowledge encryption.
Companies like Google and Dropbox use the industry standard AES-256 encryption to secure your files, but they manage the encryption keys on their servers.
Because of this, your sensitive data can be unlocked by these companies, exposing your sensitive information to their employees or to law enforcement if they request access to your files from these companies.
This is why services like Internxt use zero-knowledge encryption.
With this cryptography method, everything is encrypted on your device before it leaves your computer, phone, or tablet. The private encryption key, known only to you, is then used to encrypt and decrypt the data.
The encrypted file is then stored on the cloud provider’s servers, but because it is encrypted, the provider cannot read it, access it, or share it with third parties. When you access your file, it is decrypted locally on your device using your private key.
Therefore, if you want to store your files in total privacy and switch from Big Tech companies, then choosing a cloud storage with zero-knowledge encryption should be your first priority.
Data redundancy
Data redundancy is when a cloud company stores multiple copies of your files across different servers, so there is no single point of failure.
In doing so, your cloud provider ensures that if one server fails due to natural disasters or other events, your data is still safe and accessible from another server.
File redundancy is crucial in reducing the risk of data loss, as it provides reliable backup protection, giving you extra insurance and peace of mind that your files are protected.
Compliance
As well as ensuring that cloud companies implement the best security features to protect data, cloud companies also have to adhere to additional laws and standards that ensure they do everything possible to protect your data.
For European tech companies, for example, they are governed by GDPR regulations. This gives you the right to know what personal data is being collected about you, request access to it, correct inaccuracies, or have it deleted if necessary.
Companies must always ask for explicit consent regarding data processing and clearly explain what data will be collected, how it will be used, and who it will be shared with.
Additional features
Many cloud providers, like the ones we will list below, also go beyond cloud storage and offer you an expansive suite of privacy tools to help you gain additional protection online. For cloud storage, the basic additional features you should look for and consider include:
- Two-factor or multi-factor authentication for account access
- Secure file sharing with password protection or expiration links
- End-to-end and zero-knowledge encryption are included in all plans
- File backups and syncing
- Activity logs to monitor access and changes to your files
- Compliance with privacy regulations
From the list below, we will cover which services include all of these features and more, to ensure you get maximum privacy online.
What is the best cloud storage for sensitive data?
Having considered the different types of sensitive data and how cloud storage can protect it, based on these points, we will now consider which is the best cloud storage for sensitive data to meet your personal or business needs.
Internxt
Internxt is an open-source and Spanish cloud storage solution dedicated to user privacy and is an alternative to services like Google Drive.
It offers Internxt Drive, the first and currently only cloud storage with post-quantum encryption - the most advanced encryption available. PQE is designed to protect your data from the future threats of post-quantum computers, which could break current encryption technology in a few minutes or seconds.
On top of this, Internxt also uses zero-knowledge encryption for maximum privacy, ensuring nobody except you can view and access your files.
Other features of Internxt Drive include:
- File backups and syncing
- Password-protected file sharing
- Virtual Drive app
- Built-in Antivirus
- GDPR compliance
- Internxt CLI and WebDAV support
On top of this, Internxt paid plans also include an encrypted VPN, and other features, which include:
- File versioning
- Native Rclone support
- NAS support
- Internxt Mail
- Internxt Meet
Internxt offers annual or lifetime plans, and for lifetime plans, you can stack your storage so you don’t have to worry about receiving cloud storage full messages.
You can also pay for lifetime plans with cryptocurrency or split the cost with Klarna in simple, interest-free payments.
Visit the Internxt pricing page to find the perfect plan for you, and get the best cloud storage for sensitive data, and more!
Proton
Proton is a Swiss-based company that also offers encrypted cloud storage and other products, such as VPN and an encrypted email service, Proton Mail.
Features of Proton Drive include:
- End-to-end encryption
- Secure file sharing
- Proton docs
- File backups and syncing
Proton doesn’t include lifetime plans, but does offer monthly and annual plans, and you can access its various services depending on which plan you choose. Internxt and Proton share the same values of privacy with their open-source and zero-knowledge encrypted services.
However, if you want more advanced tools to manage your files, like Rclone and NAS, at a more affordable price, which include Mail, Meet, and more, Internxt may be the better option. If you want services like live document collaboration as an alternative to Google Docs, then you may want to consider Proton.
Tresorit
Tresorit is another Swiss-based and zero-knowledge cloud provider aimed at protecting your sensitive data.
Features include:
- Protected by Swiss privacy laws
- Tresorit Vault
- Secure link sharing
- Document scanning
- File syncing and versioning
- Multi-platform access
Tresorit plans go up to 4TB, and with it, you can access all its features. However, Tresorit’s Personal Pro plan is the most expensive entry on this list, costing €29.99 per month, but it does offer a 14-day free trial period for you to try it out beforehand.
Koofr
Koofr is another European cloud company offering cloud storage that also offers live collaboration on documents and files.
Features include:
- End-to-end encryption
- Integration with Instagram, Facebook, and Microsoft Office
- Document collaboration
- File sharing and versioning
- Koofr Vault
Koofr offers plans up to 10TB with all its additional features. However, even though it offers a 10GB free account, zero-knowledge encryption is not the default option; instead, you have to store files in the Koofr Vault to ensure this data is kept private.
More vaults are available the more you pay, but if you want zero-knowledge encryption as standard, without having to use a Vault, then you should consider the previous options mentioned in this list.
pCloud
pCloud is the final cloud service that you could consider. Although it claims Swiss privacy laws, the company operated in Bulgaria, and therefore is subject to these laws.
It also offers lifetime cloud storage plans, which include:
- End-to-end encryption
- Secure file sharing
- File versioning
- Media streaming
- Backups and syncing
pCloud also includes a password manager, pCloud Pass, as a paid add-on. pCloud is another cloud provider that doesn’t include zero-knowledge encryption in its paid plans. Instead, you have to pay an additional fee - €150 to get this feature.
This lack of private encryption has led some of pCloud’s users to have their files deleted without warning. Therefore, if you want a fully secure and private cloud service, with more features at a more affordable cost, find out why Internxt is the perfect pCloud alternative for you from our website.
Conclusion
Choosing the best cloud storage for sensitive data can seem overwhelming due to the number of services available on the market.
However, if you consider what features you need and follow the tips from this article, you can feel sure that whichever cloud provider you use, you can protect your data securely. Once you have chosen your plan, ensure you take additional security measures to protect your account, such as strong passwords and 2FA.
With Internxt, not only do you get the best cloud storage for sensitive data, you also get a variety of other products to guarantee your security online. Try it for free, or choose your perfect plan from the Internxt website to get started.