Evernote is a popular cloud service and it’s my personal favorite note-taking and idea collecting service. But it’s really so much more than that. It also allows snapshots that can be integrated into notes and features an excellent search feature. All files and documents can be labeled with keywords in order to provide an easily searchable database for efficient time management.
Many users and companies utilize the cloud storage and keep important, sensitive, individual or company data stored within Evernote. The only problem with this is that the data is in the cloud, and while Evernote provides excellent security for your data, it’s really only as secure as you make it. In this article, we are going to look at five ways you can secure your data on Evernote.
- Encrypt sensitive data.
- Change password frequently.
- Monitor authorized applications.
- Verify connected services.
- Backup your data.
Encrypt Sensitive Data:
Evernote has an extremely useful feature that allows users to encrypt their data. Many users simply don’t know about it or think it might be too much of a hassle. It’s a simple process really. First, you open a note containing the data you wish to encrypt. Select the text you wish to encrypt and right click on it. In the popup menu, you will see an option titled “Encrypt Selected Text,” and you need to click on that option. If it’s the first time you are using the encryption feature, another popup will appear. This is simply for you to input authentication and this popup will not appear again. Choose your authentication methods such as a passphrase and password hint. When you click Ok, the note is encrypted and will be unreadable unless you enter the correct passphrase. By encrypting your sensitive data, this will ensure that it does not fall into the wrong hands.
Change Authentication Frequently:
You should change your password and other authentication methods frequently. It is recommended that they be changed at least every 90 days or less. Your familiarity with your password can lead to it becoming compromised and in turn, unauthorized access to your account and data. Another excellent tip is to use different passwords for different services. This is extremely useful for replication and backup control. You will see a great example of this in tip #5 below.
Monitor Authorized Applications:
Evernote supports a variety of applications but any applications that you authorize to use on your Evernote account should be monitored frequently to see exactly what these applications are doing. This progress can be tracked by going to evernote.com, clicking on Settings and then clicking on Applications.
Verify Connected Services:
If you connect your social network accounts such as Facebook, Google and Twitter, you should verify these accounts on a regular basis. A popular move by hackers is to have malware sites and malware programs hijack these sessions and studies have shown that 68% of all data breaches are caused by malware. It’s easy to verify your connected services. Go to evernote.com, click on Settings and then click on Connected Services. Frequent verification of these services will let you know if there is any unauthorized use of the services happening behind your back.
Backup Your Data:
You should use the superior data backup service of cloudHQ to protect your sensitive data in case of any mishaps such as accidental data deletion or malicious hacking. Also, cloudHQ can export your notes in PDF, Microsoft Word and other formats to Dropbox or Google Drive. Evernote data is not very portable as Evernote exports your data in the proprietary XML format which can only be read by Evernote clients. It is highly recommended that you have another copy of your Evernote data in another cloud storage service in a portable format that is easier to access. CloudHQ provides this service, as well as real-time synchronization of notes and other files. By having a continuous backup of your data on Dropbox or Google Drive accounts that use different authentication methods from your Evernote account, even if your data gets accidentally or maliciously deleted, you will have a secure backup on Dropbox or Google Drive so there will be very little interruption in your work.
Conclusion:
Evernote is a valuable cloud computing tool for individuals and companies, and data protection is a key concern of many users. By utilizing the encryption methods Evernote provides, changing your authentication methods frequently, monitoring your authorized applications, verifying your connected services and using cloudHQ to provide real-time synchronization and secure backup of files to Dropbox or Google Drive, you can rest assured that all important and sensitive data is as well-protected as it possibly can be.