Hackers, start your engines!
A new data security company called Cloud-Clout launched Thursday on Kickstarter with some pretty bold claims. “Cloud-Clout encrypts and fragments users’ data across multiple servers around the world to deliver 100 percent bulletproof protection,” the Miami-based company boasts in a press release.
The Kickstarter page exudes similar confidence:
Cloud-Clout is the world’s most reliable and secure cloud-powered data storage system. Period. By using the power of the cloud, Cloud-Clout separates your files into small pieces, encrypts them, and saves them on servers around the world. No hacker, government or snooper will be able to piece them back together. Your data will be safe and totally secure.
Just for good measure, the campaign also quotes from “Spider-Man,” while also stereotyping hackers:
Uncle Ben told Peter Parker, “With great power comes great responsibility.” Unfortunately, hackers and secret government agencies did not incorporate this ideology into their data mining practices. Today, hackers only need a computer, some tech skills, an energy drink and a bag of Doritos to break into a cloud drive and steal your information. They use this information to steal your identity, open credit cards, commit fraud and ruin your life financially.
Why didn’t they describe “secret government agencies” as working in an undercover van across the street from your house? Lost opportunity there, guys!
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Joking aside, Cloud-Clout breaks data up into encrypted chunks; users have to have registered with four different cloud-based storage services, such as Google Drive, Dropbox or Box.net. Cloud-Clout, which is trying to raise $50,000 through crowdfunding, stores and retrieves data from these disparate sources, and delivers it to each user across multiple devices.
It’s hard to get past the “bulletproof” claim and other bluster, though. You can bet that hackers — from the Chinese government to some pimply twentysomething guzzling Red Bull in his mom’s basement — will want to take on this challenge.
Remember when LifeLock used to print CEO Todd Davis’ Social Security number in its swagger-filled advertisements? The Phoenix New Times reported in 2010 that Davis had his identity stolen at least 13 times in the previous three years. Or, as the alternative weekly newspaper put it, “Davis’ personal ID hasn’t been merely abused since he began advertising his SSN — it’s been gang-raped.”
Photos: Flickr user Photonquantique, tvtropes.org
