Every Friday here on In The Personal Cloud we’ll be presenting a roundup of links highlighting popular and rising news stories from the world of the cloud and online security. Everything from news regarding hacking and how to be secure to advancements in the field of cloud computing. Stay tuned to In The Personal Cloud each Friday to remain up to date on everything you need to know.

Power of cloud computing harnessed by Imperial collaboration – Imperial College in London, UK along with five other European institutions and technology companies will integrate new technologies into cloud computing to increase the capacity and efficiency of these services. More than half of US corporations now use cloud computing to store and process information. Companies like Facebook rely on cloud computing to provide their services. With more users on the web that rely on cloud computing each year, the requirement from clients for a more advanced service is evolving and companies that offer cloud computing are now willing to capitalize on the new opportunities that are being presented. The name of this project will be called HARNESS, which stands for Hardware- and Network- Enhanced Software Systems for Cloud Computing. This project is set to run for three years with the aim of improving the cloud to make it more energy efficient, flexible, and easier to use and manage. [ImperialCollege]

4 Game Changing Trends Coming to Cloud Computing – It is evident from studies and surveys that small businesses will be affected most by adoption of cloud computing. Public clouds that are easily accessible and budget friendly are likely to be chosen and along with that big data is also becoming more accessible. In addition to this trend, there are four game changing trends that will enable small companies to access security technologies and subscription models. The four trends are: 1. public cloud computing will defeat internal clouds, 2. the cloud will greatly increase the power of malicious attacks, 3. application protection delivered from the cloud will take hold, and 4. move over big data, say hello to smart data. Read more to get an indepth look into these upcoming trends. [CloudTimes]

The New and Dangerous Threat to Cloud Computing – The new rising threat to cloud computing is not security or privacy. The new threat to cloud computing today is customer fatigue. Businesses today are tired the debate surrounding all things Cloud. What customers want is a service that is easy to access, use, and manage. Learn more about this new threat and how this can be overcome. [Forbes]

Last month, Apple ID suffered a serious security breach which led to Apple urging its users to enable the two-step verification. The Verge, a tech and media news website, found a link and step-by-step tutorial on how to hijack an Apple ID. With just an email address and date of birth a hacker is able to reset your password.

There is a lot of incentive for a hacker to steal a person’s Apple ID. A user connects to services such as App store, iTunes, iCloud, and iWork with the Apple ID. Access to all of this data can allow for the cybercriminals to steal your identity, make purchases on your behalf, and blackmail you.

Another rising trend in the realm of internet and data security is phishing scams. There has been an uprise in phishing sites that try to impersonate Apple ID login pages or have you paste a modified URL while answering the DOB security question on a page that looks like Apple’s iForgot page. Security blog Trend Micro found that in the last four months, 110 websites have been compromised and used for a phishing scam.

Instead of storing all of your information and data in cloud account that is constantly under attack, back up all of your data and to Norton Online Backup. The government grade encryption feature of this personal cloud keeps all your data safe and backed up automatically. You can try a FREE 30-day trial here. If you are a Apple product user you may now be concerned about the how well protected your Mac device is. Norton’s Internet Security for Mac and Antivirus for Mac protects you from cyber-attacks such as identity theft, data breach, and application security holes.

The use of Cloud technology can be seen a variety of industries, from finance to hospital and even to retail. Now the Cloud is also surfacing in the education sector as a promising resource and IT strategy. Cloud computing is allowing and aiding many remarkable projects come to life and the following is one of them.

Sugata Mitra is an educational researcher and through his research has found that “in the absence of supervision or formal teaching, children can teach themselves and each other if they are motivated by curiosity and peer interest”. At the 2013 TED conference he was awarded the TED Prize wish and wished for fellow world innovators to help him design a school in the Cloud. Mitra wants to use resources from the cloud to help children explore and learn from each other.

Another educational effort that is gaining a lot of attention and support is distance learning. As more people are choosing to further their education via the web the role of easy and safe file sharing in the Cloud and safety of data becomes crucial. With e-learning students spend a great amount of time working on  research, projects, and papers ALL saved in some cloud platform or drive. One of the most devastating moments of student lifehood is when all the hard work is gone because of a drive crashing or a cloud breach.

Fortunately, there is a way to prevent this tragic moment! Norton Online BackUp offers its users automatic backup to the cloud, quick and easy restoration, and government-grade encryption (to make keep your account safe). Go ahead and try a free 30-day trial!