Smartphones have gotten more powerful, sophisticated, and pricier with every device release. This has also led to increased crimes stemming from device thefts and related losses. A recent Wall Street Journal (Journal) article talked about how low-tech methods have been used by thieves to take over the smart phone account and along with it all access to contacts, photos, and other precious digital assets. Once they possess the device, these thieves immediately change the passcodes and the account password, that prevent the user from gaining access from other machines.
Thousands of these stories have been reported around the globe the past two years, that has left consumers distraught. It is a frustrating ordeal to process the loss of a smartphone and deal with fraudulent transactions in the form of payments, credit card charges or even bank transfers, but it is an entirely different matter when life’s memories vanish never to be found again.
This is the reason why Synchronoss Personal Cloud offers consumers a secure and private solution to protect all digital assets, no matter which device they were captured or created on. Synchronoss Personal Cloud is a standalone white label offering made available to consumers from their trusted service providers, that is private, secure, and unattached to operating system accounts and related identities.
Some of the popular data protection solutions in the market are in effect syncs, rather than true backups. This means deleting photos and videos from the device often deletes from the corresponding cloud storage as well. Synchronoss personal cloud on the other hand is a true backup solution that maintains a distinct copy of the digital asset in the cloud and no matter what happens to the device, the backup remains intact and secure.
As the cameras in the smart phones have gotten better and convenient, the usage also has expanded to beyond photos of family, friends, and nature. Many consumers take photos of their social security cards, credit cards and other sensitive documents and store them in albums for easy access and use. Most products in the market extract meta data from these photos to make them searchable. In tests conducted by the Journal, searching or texts like SSN (social security number), TIN (tax identification number) immediately produced photo of a 1099 tax form with social security information. Therefore, what is deemed essential for ease of use, opens vulnerability and potential for identity thefts.
Synchronoss personal cloud offers private folder, a highly secure data locker like feature that allows users to store photos, videos, and documents in a secure area of the app with increased and additional secure access controls. This feature offers the consumer, the added layer of protection without sacrificing the ease of use.
We live in an increasingly digital world where all our memories, precious assets and more are at our fingertips. While ease of use, ease of access and mobility is the way of life, it is also important for consumers to devise a solid data protection strategy that gives them the peace of mind and respects their privacy.
