Security Most Important Criteria When Choosing Online Storage

A survey by One.com, supplier of web hosting services, reveals that as many as one in two Europeans use online storage services.

The Brits (63 percent) rely more on cloud drives for personal and business use than any other nationalities, while the Belgians lag behind their European counterparts with only 40 percent regularly using online services.

Security is the most important criteria (66 percent) when selecting a web service, but the reluctance to store sensitive information online is still high. Only four percent of all respondents save passwords in cloud drives; unsurprisingly no German respondent stores passwords online.

The most popular files stored online are pictures (68 percent), followed by important work (50 percent) and personal (44 percent) documents. In contrast, audio (32 percent) and video (29 percent) files are saved less frequently in cloud drives.

"A few years ago we witnessed a different picture, with only a few important work and private files stored in personal clouds. Nowadays sophisticated web services with built-in data encryption and password protection for files and folders offer a safe and secure location for online document storage," said Thomas Medard Frederiksen, COO at One.com. "For us, security and privacy go hand in hand. We ensure that our customers’ data is kept safe with online backup, synchronization and recovery of previous file versions. Our customers have full control and can choose whether to encrypt their data and at what level, to ensure that sensitive information can’t fall into the wrong hands. We promise customers that their data is stored safely and belongs to them."

Across Europe the main reasons given for not using web services to keep and share data is the fear that it might not be protected (40 percent), storage is perceived to be too expensive (22 percent) or too limited in space (10 percent).

Out of all respondents without cloud drives, Dutch respondents are most worried about the costs (42 percent) while Danish participants fear lack of space (38 percent) – which is very surprising given the large number of different web hosting services available.

Five percent of all European respondents said that the cloud computing concept is too difficult to understand with the largest number of sceptics found in one out of eight Belgian respondents. Even in Germany, where 56 percent of respondents use web services to store, edit and share information, one in every 10 respondents struggles to understand this concept.

"Our Cloud Drive, included in all web hosting packages, makes cloud computing simple and reliable. It brings all information together in one solution that gives you unlimited access, including mobile access, through apps for iPhone, iPad and Android phones," continued Thomas Medard Frederiksen. "Whenever you add, delete or modify a file on your computer, our Cloud Drive immediately detects the change and updates your files online. You can sync important files and folders across different computers, ensuring you always have the latest version, and if you accidently delete a file, Cloud Drive recovers a previous version for you."

Other key findings from the survey:

• Keeping pictures safe is particularly important to Dutch (87 percent) and German (83 percent) respondents, who also share these types of files frequently with their friends and families (81 percent and 88 percent respectively)
• Audio (32 percent) and video (29 percent) files are saved less frequently in Cloud Drives – with exceptions being the film-loving respondents in Germany (43 percent) and the UK (42 percent)
• Security was cited as the most important criteria that European respondents expect from an online storage provider (66 percent). Good price and value for money (19 percent) are the second and 24-hour customer support (seven percent) the third priority when it comes to choosing a web hosting package

The One.com File Storing survey was conducted online among 272 respondents from Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden and the UK from November 25 to December 9, 2011.

Founded in 2002 in Denmark, the company delivers web hosting, email and file sharing solutions to private users and small and medium sized businesses, serving 900,000 customers worldwide.