If You Think the Cloud is Secure

[DontAsk]

Then you should read this https://www.theregister.com/2025/07...utm_medium=newsletter&utm_content=top-article

TLDR: AWS allowed a script to be pushed that would potentially delate all you data,

Remember, if you don't control the server you don't control the data.

 

[fisicx]

Cloud just means somebody else’s computer.

The register has almost daily reports of hacks and other incidents.

 

[martin_shl]

I remember when I was working in the Civil Service as a Business Analyst. We were looking to procure a new IT system to manage our programme, and while I was focussed on the functional and non-functional requirements, one member of the IT dept was fixated on whether or not the system was 'cloud' - the fact that our current system was hosted on external servers and therefore a 'cloud' was lost on him.

 

[ThatDevAaron]

Then you should read this https://www.theregister.com/2025/07...utm_medium=newsletter&utm_content=top-article

TLDR: AWS allowed a script to be pushed that would potentially delate all you data,

Remember, if you don't control the server you don't control the data.

This is exactly why you shouldn't simply trust the biggest names​

AWS, Azure etc, they all are massive cloud companies, and unlike dedicated providers of a specific service, they try to do it all, allowing their entire platform, consisting of users who use a range of different cloud services, from servers, to emails, etc, to be affected by a vulnerability.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

You have to trust these systems there is no going back and for most of us returning to past practices would make running a business impossible in 2025

 

[DontAsk]

You have to trust these systems there is no going back

That's exactly what a growing number of companies are doing. moving everything back in house.

 

[Kerwin]

That's exactly what a growing number of companies are doing. moving everything back in house.

I thought about Google Cloud and AWS but I realised that if I built my service on them entirely I would be stuck with them for all time. I decided it was much better to stick to open source software that I could host with a third party but if anything did happen I could run it myself if the worst came to the worst.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

I remember when I was working in the Civil Service as a Business Analyst. We were looking to procure a new IT system to manage our programme, and while I was focussed on the functional and non-functional requirements, one member of the IT dept was fixated on whether or not the system was 'cloud' - the fact that our current system was hosted on external servers and therefore a 'cloud' was lost on him.

But if the software cloud goes down for any reason your stuffed, If you use another companies server, you have the ability with backups to change server and restart very quickly

 

[DontAsk]

But if the software cloud goes down for any reason your stuffed, If you use another companies server, you have the ability with backups to change server and restart very quickly

There's no difference. As Fisicx said "Cloud just means somebody else’s computer."

You should ALWAYS have backups and they should NEVER be in the same cloud or on the same server/infrastructure as the live site.

 

[Daybooks]

That's exactly what a growing number of companies are doing. moving everything back in house.

Back onto their own computers then .

 

[Daybooks]

Cloud just means somebody else’s computer.

Blimey that is going to come as a big shock to all those promoters of cloud accounting software. Thankfully if it were not for the all other perceived benefits of cloud accounting software there wouldn’t be any benefit at all.

 

[fisicx]

Didn’t say there wasn’t any advantages. You just need to realise you no longer have control of your data.

And SAAS is a different thing to data storage. If you connect to your software via a browser and do not have local storage you at even higher risk.

As an example, a whole load of people lost access to their data when the Adobe put up their prices and graphic designers and other stopped their subscriptions. Even worse, accidental deletions meant data has been irrevocably lost.

Nothing wrong with using cloud services. But keep a local backup.

 

[Daybooks]

You should ALWAYS have backups and they should NEVER be in the same cloud or on the same server/infrastructure as the live site.

Additionally backups must be a means to an end not the end itself. Backups are of no value unless they are proven, not corrupt themselves and by way of example for cloud accounting systems you must have a backup of the data needed to recompile accounting ledgers into any other system not just the one being used.

 

[fisicx]

Additionally backups must be a means to an end not the end itself. Backups are of no value unless they are proven, not corrupt themselves and by way of example for cloud accounting systems you must have a backup of the data needed to recompile accounting ledgers into any other system not just the one being used.

And this is where it can all unwravel. Unless you test your backups regularly you can never be sure you haven’t been compromised. Your accounting software can get indiltrated and by ransomware and your backup encrypted for months before the ransom is demanded.

It’s not if happens, it’s when. But the big tech companies don’t like to tell you this.

 

[Daybooks]

And this is where it can all unwravel. Unless you test your backups regularly you can never be sure you haven’t been compromised. Your accounting software can get indiltrated and by ransomware and your backup encrypted for months before the ransom is demanded.

It’s not if happens, it’s when. But the big tech companies don’t like to tell you this.

Generally the cloud accounting backups are of no use anyhow. You are reliant upon the provider, its backup frequency and retention, you have no way of testing and most crucially you probably will not have a designated restore point to call upon.


Obviously if it were spelled out to you by the providers you would not use them or would take other measures if you were able to.

Agreed it will happen. Sometimes those are the best lessons.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

There's no difference. As Fisicx said "Cloud just means somebody else’s computer."

You should ALWAYS have backups and they should NEVER be in the same cloud or on the same server/infrastructure as the live site.

It can also mean using cloud software as well as storage