One of the essential criteria for selecting the right service depends on what you're planning to use it for: Individual or corporate purposes. Which of the solutions include this feature can be viewed by checking the Data Versioning filter in our evaluation. You also have an indirect method to create a backup: Versioning, which is offered by most of the services we looked at, allows you to return your files to a particular point in time. Most solutions we looked at allow users to either fully restore their system, or to only restore specific folders or even files. Having such a backup at your disposal removes any motivation to actually pay a ransomware attacker off, allowing you to easily restore your files. Accordingly, an up-to-date backup of your system and/or files is a key defensive measure in neutralizing the impact of ransomware. Even if you pay up, it isn't certain that access to your files will be returned. These entail the involuntary encryption of your files or system, demanding a ransom for their release.

In addition to the threats posed by hardware damage or theft, ransomware attacks are perhaps the gravest danger at present. In our overview, you can limit results to services that offer these. Only if both criteria are offered (Two-factor authentication and private key encryption) is your cloud storage or backup optimally protected against unauthorized access.

Many providers advertise this as 'zero-' or 'no knowledge' policies. If downloaded, they can only be decrypted on your computer, since it is the only machine with the necessary key to do so. To use this, your files are encrypted with the private key before they are uploaded to the cloud server. Private key encryption entails the storage of a unique key only on your computer. Should the service utilize private key encryption, even administrators won't be able to explore your files, meaning that hackers won't be able to see anything at all. In an ideal situation, hackers who have managed to get onto the server where your data is stored will only be able to see the names of your files, but not their content. The encryption used on the server where your data is stored is mainly responsible for the degree (or lack) of security afforded your files.

To limit your search to those that do, simply check the 'Two-Factor Authentication' filter. Unfortunately, not all providers in our evaluation offer multi-factor authentication.

Online personal backup