7 Cloud Storage Safety Concerns and How To Prevent Them
While it is the cloud storage service's responsibility to secure your data, security concerns are still a concern for many users. Security issues or challenges can happen for several reasons, which can be prevented, but can also occur due to insider threats or a lack of employee cybersecurity knowledge.
Table of contents
- data breaches
- Hacked accounts
- Insufficient privacy
- Uncontrolled access
- Quantum computers
- Data loss
- Compliance issues
The most common cloud storage safety concerns
To prevent this, here are some cloud storage safety concerns businesses and individuals should know about, so they can avoid them from happening.
Data breaches
Data breach costs in 2024 reached almost $5 million, and it is one of the cloud storage safety concerns, and the most worrying to our online safety and privacy.
Data breaches can happen for a number of reasons. For cloud storage, it can be misconfigured security settings, unwanted integration with third-party apps, exploiting outdated systems, or employee negligence.
Any of these can cause data leaks, so it’s essential to develop a data breach response plan for businesses and follow the recommendations from the rest of this article.
Hacked accounts
Hacked accounts are also a cloud storage safety concern that can happen from leaked passwords on the dark web, keyloggers, ransomware, or even shoulder surfing, where someone discreetly watches your screen, hoping to view your login information.
Should any of these happen, a hacker can access all the photos, documents, or videos you have stored in the cloud, so it's crucial to follow these steps to prevent events like this from happening.
If you suspect your data has leaked online, you can use Internxt’s Dark Web Monitor to check if your email, password, or other information has leaked online for free.
Check if your data has leaked online
How to prevent compromised accounts
Two-factor authentication adds more security to your account, and many providers offer it via external authentication apps to limit cloud storage safety concerns, such as leaked or stolen passwords.
2FA or biometric authentication notifies and verifies that someone is trying to access your account. If you didn’t request this, 2FA prevents hackers from logging in without your code.
Learn more about biometric authentication
Change your passwords regularly, and never reuse them across multiple accounts to prevent other accounts from being breached. Creating a strong password is easy with Internxt’s Password Generator. Once created, you can secure your password or passphrase using a reputable password manager.
Learn to identify phishing emails and spoofed websites, which can steal your personal or financial information from links that could download malware to your device. Phishing emails are becoming more difficult to identify due to the advances in AI scams, so it's important to know how to identify and prevent scam emails.
Insufficient privacy
Although cloud storage is a secure means of storing your files, the security of some cloud providers lacks privacy, making it one of the leading cloud storage safety concerns for people who value their online privacy.
How to get private cloud storage
Although cloud services use end-to-end encryption, if this isn’t zero-knowledge, meaning the keys are managed on your device, there is an increased chance that the company could view or access your files. Any company that doesn’t use zero-knowledge encryption shouldn’t be considered private.
Learn more about cloud storage with zero-knowledge encryption
Uncontrolled access
Aside from cyberattacks and popular online scams, human error is one of the most common causes of data breaches. Accidental file sharing with the wrong person can leak sensitive information, such as emails. If this information falls into the wrong hands, your personal data could end up on the dark web, leading to identity theft or compromised accounts.
How to protect files you share online
When sharing files online, cloud storage providers allow you to monitor and control the settings of the shared files. You can monitor who can view, access, or edit files, so be sure you choose the right option and password protect the files you want to keep fully private.
Double-check the recipients when you share your files, as a simple typo or different letter could send the file to a totally different person, giving them access to confidential data.
Encrypted file sharing is available with your Internxt Drive account, where you can share and limit access at any time, set controls, and protect them with a password.
Internxt Send is another free file-sharing option for up to 5GB of encrypted file sharing via an encrypted and secure link or email.
Quantum computers
Although not one of the immediate cloud safety concerns, the future of encryption and data security could be at risk as the technology of quantum computers continues to advance.
Quantum computers use advanced mathematical algorithms and supercomputing technology, which could break current protocols such as RSA encryption if they become more commonplace in the future.
As a result, choosing a company that uses post-quantum cryptography will future-proof your data against the threats of this technology.
How to prevent the potential risks of quantum computers
The National Cyber Security Centre has set guidelines for necessary industries to implement post-quantum cryptography into their systems by 2035.
As the first cloud storage with post-quantum encryption, Internxt offers zero-knowledge and post-quantum cryptography to protect your data against current and future data breaches or cyberattacks.
You don’t need any unique technology to get access to this encryption. Simply create or purchase an Internxt account; all the encryption happens automatically on your device before it’s sent to the cloud. The keys are stored on your device, too, so nobody but you can access them.
Learn more about quantum encryption
Data loss
A survey from 2024 revealed that 74% of people have accidentally deleted important data, and 25% of intentional deletion was from malicious actors was 25%.
Despite this, only 33% of people will regularly back up their data, meaning there’s a significant amount of data stored in the cloud or on backups at high risk of loss, deletion, or corruption.
How to protect against data loss
Backing up your files in the cloud prevents your documents from being exposed to ransomware and accidental deletion, among other things.
By backing up your files using services like Internxt Drive, you keep a separate copy backed up in the cloud, available whenever you need. As it is stored in the cloud, you can access your files from any device when you log into your account, even if your previous device was infected with ransomware.
With Internxt backups, you can schedule your backups to maintain the most recent version of the file or manually back up your files if you make changes to them less often.
Learn more about cloud storage backup solutions
Compliance issues
Compliance laws such as the GDPR use strict guidelines for European companies to prevent cloud storage safety concerns, such as data leaks, by enforcing laws to protect how customer data is used and handled.
For businesses, non-compliance can lead to legal repercussions, fines, and the loss of trust from their customers, affecting the company's future revenue.
In March 2025, Apple discontinued its Advanced Data Protection (ADP) encryption feature for British users after the UK government demanded backdoor access to encrypted data.
Even though this case is still ongoing, it highlights the growing demand for European alternatives that protect your files from being accessed by anyone but you.
How to get GDPR compliance
Internxt Drive for Business offers GDPR compliant cloud storage, so you can guarantee that these regulations protect your company’s data and keep your customers' and team’s data safe.
It offers access controls to monitor your accounts, storage allocation, and logs to monitor account security.
Learn more about GDPR cloud storage
How to limit and prevent cloud storage safety concerns
Internxt Drive VPN, Antivirus, and soon to be Mail and Meet are a suite of privacy-focused products designed to protect your privacy with award-winning secure encryption to limit and protect you from any possible cloud storage safety concerns that threaten our online privacy.
We developed Internxt Drive as an alternative to Google, OneDrive, Dropbox, etc, as a private and European cloud provider that protects your privacy. It includes:
- Password-protected files to prevent accidental sharing of sensitive data.
- Two-factor authentication for additional account security.
- Post-quantum, zero-knowledge encryption for maximum privacy and protection against data breaches.
- File backups so you can recover files in case of accidental deletion.
- Access logs (Business plans).
- Control who can view or edit files.
- Stop access to shared files at any time.
- Meet and Mail out soon for Premium and Ultimate plans.
Internxt also helps alleviate your cloud storage safety concerns by including a VPN for up to 5 locations, and an Antivirus built into your cloud storage with our Windows, Mac, and Linux apps to protect your device against malware.
To access these features, you can choose from any of our subscription plans, offering:
Essential
€9.99 per month (billed annually)
Includes:
- 1TB zero-knowledge encrypted storage
- Ultra-fast unlimited VPN for 1 location
- Antivirus
- Backups
Premium
€19.99 per month (billed annually)
Includes:
- 3TB zero-knowledge encrypted storage
- Ultra-fast unlimited VPN for 3 locations
- Antivirus
- Backups
Ultimate
€29.99 per month (billed annually)
Includes:
- 5TB zero-knowledge encrypted storage
- Ultra-fast unlimited VPN for 5 locations
- Antivirus
- Backups
You can also access all these features with our lifetime plans, so you only have to pay once, and get access to Drive, VPN, and Antivirus forever in one easy payment. Lifetimes are also stackable, so you never have to worry about running out of cloud storage again.
All of our software is built using open-source code, so there are no backdoors. You can verify that our code is secure against the common cloud storage safety concerns, and there is no way government agencies can access your files.
Learn more about Internxt's privacy values and subscribe for more updates and access to our upcoming features, such as Meet and Mail, later this year.
Learn more about Internxt’s privacy values and subscribe for more updates and access to our upcoming features, such as Meet and Mail, later this year.