Is the iCloud Really Secure?

Article first published as Is the iCloud Really Secure? on Blogcritics.

iCloud makes you feel like you’re on cloud 9 right? Technology is on turbo speed, it’s developing so fast. Everyone is doing it: Apple, Amazon and Google. It’s like everyone is trying to lead, just like how Tails follows Sonic. However it forces me to question, is our data safe? Lets find out, Apple CEO Steve Jobs recently announced iCloud prices on June 6th WWDC 2011 keynote. iCloud is bundled with nine essential apps, as stated by Apple.com these are as follows;

• iTunes in the cloud
• Photostream
• Documents in the cloud
• Apps, books, and backup
• Contacts, calendar, and mail

Sounds like Apple’s got it covered, store all your data up in the cloud, and never worry about it again--sounds great!

We all know that as technology advances, the doors open wider forhackers. Putting this into consideration you can’t help but ask yourself--how safe are these cloud services? According to npr.org, physically, Apple’s data centre in North California is pretty secure. So secure in fact, they have guards placed everywhere like Lego pieces. This is not enough; the inside is just as important as the outside.

Credit goes to npr.org once again for providing us with an important quote from cloud tester Mitnick, who was hired by Apple to take its cloud service to its limits:

I was hired to test this cloud infrastructure in South America. Literally in the 15 minutes that I was on the phone with the CEO of the company and one of the lead technical guys, I was able to get access that only system administrators should get access to.

We should be over the moon with these cloud services that are being developed for us, but when you read Mitnick’s quote, it gets you thinking--is it worth it?