Is Your Company's Data Safe in the Cloud? (Infographic)

Despite the risks, more than half of all U.S. businesses are trusting the cloud. Where does yours stack up?

learn more about Kim Lachance Shandrow

By Kim Lachance Shandrow

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

At this point it probably goes without saying that cloud services are becoming crazy popular. So much so, more than half of all U.S. businesses use some form of it. Whether managed internally or contracted to a third party like Google or Amazon, cloud services allow businesses to manage their information and files in one location that's easy to access and secure.

But exactly how secure is the cloud? Even if your IT staff or service provider is vigilantly securing your cloud with the latest safety measures and security systems, cloud storage can still be risky business. Everything is hackable. Nothing is breach-proof.

Related: Why You Shouldn't Be Afraid of the Cloud

Tech giant Dell recently surveyed 200 IT managers in the United Kingdom about their use and understanding of the cloud. Based on the results, the company put together the infographic below, which looks at three critical areas of cloud security: Virtual Private Networks (VPN, which allows a computer or a Wi-Fi-enabled device to send and receive data securely across a shared or public network), bring your own device (BYOD) policies and a Domain Name System (DNS, the system that Internet domain names and addresses are tracked and regulated by).

So, the question is obvious: How safe is your cloud?

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Is Your Company's Data Safe in the Cloud? (Infographic)

Related: Why Uncovering a Network Security Breach Can Take Weeks or Months

Kim Lachance Shandrow

Former West Coast Editor

Kim Lachance Shandrow is the former West Coast editor at Entrepreneur.com. Previously, she was a commerce columnist at Los Angeles CityBeat, a news producer at MSNBC and KNBC in Los Angeles and a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times. She has also written for Government Technology magazine, LA Yoga magazine, the Lowell Sun newspaper, HealthCentral.com, PsychCentral.com and the former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Coop. Follow her on Twitter at @Lashandrow. You can also follow her on Facebook here

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