It can be a minor inconvenience
For you, it means having to create and manage multiple cloud accounts just to share files with those external parties. If you’re anything like us, you may start to feel that keeping track of all those different logins is just annoying and unnecessary – especially if you have plenty of other priorities to juggle.

Treasure can help with that!
If you use Treasure Cloud, you can consolidate all your cloud storage accounts under a single login: one username, one password to access and manage everything.

Link up with all major cloud storage providers
You can link your Treasure account with all the most popular cloud services including Box, Dropbox, and Google Drive. No matter which provider your partner or client prefers, you now need to memorize just your Treasure login details to get into all of them.

Enjoy a zero-knowledge cloud service with every provider
Treasure offers zero-knowledge cloud storage (where all your data is encrypted and not viewable by anyone without your unique encryption key – not even Treasure). This is an important security feature, especially if you’re sharing confidential business data.

Not all cloud providers offer this, but you can upload files with Treasure’s zero-knowledge encryption directly onto any other cloud server. This way, all your files will have Treasure-level protection no matter where you have to share them.

A single view of all data across all your accounts
Treasure provides a central hub from which you can preview all the files across all your cloud accounts. You can also copy, delete or move them around seamlessly in a single window. No need to spend extra time downloading and reuploading just to move files from one account to another.

Never lose track of files again with universal search
One of Treasure’s most powerful features is its universal search capability. Use Treasure’s search bar to locate files across all your cloud accounts quickly and easily. Never again will you have to worry about forgetting which account you uploaded a certain file to.

This insightful little quality-of-life feature is unique to Treasure Cloud and has been designed to save you loads of time and unnecessary effort. And not to mention free up valuable real estate in your brain for more inspiring things than long lists of cloud account passwords!

If you haven’t already, connect with Treasure today and take your productivity up a notch!

More recently, the mainstreaming of cloud storage and advent of features like file syncing increasingly made the web our go-to option for keeping work and personal files safe from physical harm. After all, what’s not to love? It fits well with our always-connected, work-anywhere lifestyles; and has certainly made it much easier to share, connect and collaborate – especially during the pandemic.

Unfortunately, this surge in online storage adoption also means there’s now a treasure trove of our personal data online. Official documents and records; cherished personal memories; sensitive work files and more – all just floating in the cloud: a tempting target for cyber criminals.

Theft and exploitation of this data can cause significant financial loss and devastating personal impact. So it’s crucial that we be aware of the scams that are commonly used to try and steal it, so we can stop them dead in their tracks before they do any real harm.

Phising

This type of scam has been around for a long time. Updated frequently with new variations, they can still catch people out if they’re not careful.

How it usually goes:

1. Scammers will send you an official-looking email or text message that claims to be from a reputable organization you have regular dealings with, such as your bank or cloud storage provider.
2. The message will tell you there is an issue with your account you need to resolve, or a prize you can claim. It will ask you to click a link, then log in or submit personal details to confirm your identity.
3. The link will take you to a fake site that’s designed to look exactly like an official one. Once you submit your details (such as your username/password) it will be captured and stolen.

How to side-step it:

– Always confirm the sender’s email address and the URL of the website that the link leads to. If any of it differs even slightly from the real, official one you know – stop immediately.

– Enable 2-Factor Authentication (2FA) on your accounts. This is a standard feature with service providers that offer top-level security – such as banks and Treasure Cloud. With 2FA, your account can only be accessed when you key in two passwords:

1. The password you memorize and use at every login.
2. A second One-Time Password (OTP) sent via SMS to your mobile once you enter the first password. As its name indicates, this OTP is only useable once. A new one is generated every time you log in.

If you log in and the website does not send you an OTP, it’s an immediate warning sign that something is not right and you should change your password immediately.

– Avoid using the same passwords for your various accounts. This limits the threat to your accounts even if one of them is compromised.

Tech Support Scam

In this insidious scam, scammers will try to make you panic over the status of your account or device in order to make you comply with their requests.

How it usually goes:

1. Scammers will call you posing as tech support from a service provider you use – such as your phone company. They will say your account or device has been sending them error messages or been infected with malware.
2. They will request remote access to your device so they can root out and resolve the problem. This will give them free rein to steal your data outright, or install spyware to do it over time.
3. They may also take a more direct approach by asking for your personal and login details outright, ostensibly to verify your identity.

How to side-step it:

– Keep calm and don’t be in a rush to comply with any caller’s request, particularly ones who are asking for your private information. Before you grant access or disclose anything, make sure the call is really from an official number. To be doubly safe, end the call and call the company’s official support hotline to continue with any troubleshooting that may be required.

Tip: Treasure, like many other cloud storage providers, would never call you if there are issues with your account but instead notify you by email. So if you do get a call, you should be immediately suspicious.

Impersonation Scam

By pretending to be a friend or loved one in distress, scammers will attempt to take advantage of your concern to cheat you of cash or steal your data.

How it usually goes:

1. Scammers start by infiltrating the social account of someone you know. Two of the most common methods for doing this are:
   1. Hacking: Stealing login details and taking over their account outright
   2. Cloning: Making an exact copy of their account
2. They will then use the compromised account to pose your friend or loved one to ask you for an urgent favor. Depending on their motives, they may attempt to:
   1. Cheat money by asking you to buy them an online gift card so they can make an emergency purchase
   2. Steal your data by asking you for private data (for example, they may pretend to be a co-worker who needs you to urgently send them a sensitive work file for a last-minute meeting)

How to side-step it:

• Call to verify with your friend if you ever receive an unexpected request from them. Never accede to their request right away, no matter how urgent it may sound.
• Never share any password or OTP to any account with anyone – even those closest to you – without being 100% sure of their identity.
• Use secure sharing methods to share sensitive files. If you use Treasure, you can send a cloud access link to their verified email instead of sharing the file directly. On Treasure, this access link can also be set to expire at a time of your choosing, thus minimizing the chances of it falling into the wrong hands.

We’ve highlighted just a few of the most common data theft scams. There are many others out there, and sneaky new ideas are being hatched every day by scammers. So stay alert and remember that if anything seems even the slightest bit suspicious – it’s better to err on the side of caution.

Finally, if you encounter any new scams you’d like us to warn everyone about, do share them with us at [email protected]

But by now, we all know that we must take extra care when sharing photos and videos of our kids. There are irresponsible (and some downright sinister) people out there who may intercept and misuse what we share in ways that would be horrifying to imagine.

Well, what’s our alternative – stop sharing altogether?

Absolutely not!

We refuse to let the bad guys win. So we’ve put together this quick rundown of the safest ways to share your kids’ photos and videos with your loved ones.

Mind you, each option here does have its pros and cons. But together, they should provide a comprehensive list of secure sharing methods you can choose from – depending on what you’re sharing and whom you’re sharing it with.

Going old-school: physical photos

We hardly do this any more, but probably the safest way to share photos of your kids is to print them out – over a secure network, of course – and send them to your intended recipients via your good old local postal service. That’s right – in this case, old is totally gold.

What we love:

• No technology required – great for elderly relatives who are less tech-savvy.
• It’s more than just a picture. It’s a gift – a physical keepsake that can be framed to brighten up the homes of friends and family, young or old.
• It’s one of the safest options available. It’s hard to reshare as there’s only one copy for its intended recipient; and of course, it’s totally hacker-proof.

What we don’t love:

• You need to make multiple copies for multiple recipients, which will incur added cost.
• Extra time and effort needed to physically send the photos, which take longer to arrive.
• Physical photos can be damaged or lost, but of course can be reprinted from digital files.
• You can’t send videos. (Yes, videos can be sent on discs or flash drives – but would require a separate device to view and add too much complexity here).

It’s a snap: chat apps

Messaging apps like Signal, WhatsApp or Apple iMessage are some of the most popular ways people use to share photos and videos of their kids. They all feature end-to-end encryption so all photos and videos can be sent easily, quickly and securely.

What we love:

• Instant delivery.
• Uses apps that you and your recipients already have installed and are comfortable using – zero learning curve or inconvenience.
• Both photos and videos can be sent and viewed on the same app.
• Some messaging apps allow you to send disappearing messages to limit the time your photos and videos are made available to recipients. This reduces the likelihood of resharing and increases security.

What we don’t love:

• You need to make sure all your recipients are using the same messaging app.
• It can be messy if you want to revisit or organize older photos and videos that you’ve shared.
• Photos and videos are usually auto-saved to your recipients’ phones. If the phone is lost or hacked, the private content you shared may get leaked.
• Messaging apps make it easy to reshare content, so there’s a higher likelihood that whatever you shared may end up in the wrong hands.
• Some messaging apps compress files for sharing, so they may end up being low-quality.

A great balance: cloud storage

Sharing physical photos is more secure but less convenient. In contrast, sharing over messaging apps is more convenient but less secure. Between these two, a cloud storage service like Treasure offers a good balance of security and convenience.

This can be a good option especially if you’re sharing content that you want to safeguard more carefully – such as a photo of your kids in front of their school.

What we love:

• This is a very secure sharing option as only your intended recipients with the correct password can view the photos and videos you share.
• Your recipients won’t need to install any additional app to view what you share.
• It’s easy to share large albums or heavy video files because all you need to send is a link for your recipients to visit.
• You can organize your photos and videos in folders so both you and your recipients can easily keep track and view them again at any time.
• This is an online backup with significant storage space that also protects your precious memories from being accidentally lost should anything happen to your phone or computer.

What we don’t love:

• While it adds an important layer of security, the need for a password to view your kids’ photos and videos makes it slightly less convenient for your recipients.

Especially now when travel is so restricted, it’s more important than ever to stay connected and keep your loved ones updated on what’s happening in your life, including your kids’ many growing-up milestones. We hope one (or more) of these 3 safe ways to share will let you do so with minimal worries.

What do you do at Treasure and how long have you been with the company?

I am the Data Analyst at Treasure. I am responsible for analysing data to derive useful and actionable insights to help the business grow. I joined the company earlier in Feb 2021.

What does a typical day at work look like for you?

At the start of each day, I would review my list of priorities and check on the progress of each task. I have the habit of tracking what I need to do, and I would focus on clearing them one task at a time. My role requires me to build and monitor dashboards and collaborate with both internal and external teams to ramp-up our analytics capabilities.

What did you do prior to starting work at Treasure, and how has that experience influenced you in your current role?

I used to work in the corporate communications department in my previous job before joining Treasure. During my time there, I had always known about my passion in data analytics. I took a huge leap of faith to pursue the Master of IT in Business (MITB) at Singapore Management of University (SMU), which took me 16 months to complete.

During my studies, I had the opportunity to meet people from different backgrounds – industry experts, like-minded peers, aspiring data analysts and data scientists. We all had one thing in common, the passion in chasing our dreams. Gaining new knowledge from coursework, collaborating with fellow peers, and listening to others share their personal experiences all helped to re-affirm my decision to pursue a path into the analytics industry. With the help and support of my career advisors from the SMU Career Office, I was offered an opportunity to intern with Treasure and it led me to where I am now.

What is one thing that has surprised you about cloud storage/security when you started working at Treasure?

Before Treasure, I knew about the existence of cloud storage. What surprised me was how people are actively using multiple cloud storage platforms. However, it can be tedious to maintain and organise your files across various cloud storage platforms. Enter Treasure. With Treasure, you can easily integrate all your cloud storage services into a single platform and organise all your files without having to access each storage individually.

What is an accomplishment you are most proud of since working at Treasure?

We needed a good and reliable way to track engagement and my task was to set up a suitable metric for it. Part of being a Data Analyst is understanding the nature of our data and making sense of it.

I researched on how businesses track engagement, read up on industry standards, perform experimentations and developed proof-of-concepts before coming up with a modified solutionfor the team. This remains to be one of my proudest work!

What do you enjoy most about working at Treasure?

I am grateful to have great colleagues at Treasure. It helps to have people you can trust to depend on whenever you need support. There are many different perspectives within our team which is really amazing for us to build upon our existing product and processes.

I am also grateful for the company to provide great welfare and support for its employees. Joining a start-up is a huge step, especially for anyone who is new. It is probably not going to be a smooth-sailing journey because I am only starting my data analytics career. Taking the first step into the data analytics industry is not easy and knowing that the company cares is really important.

What do you enjoy doing when you are not at work?

When not at work, I love spending time with my partner. She has been a great pillar of support throughout this journey, and I cannot imagine otherwise.

I enjoy love watching anime and playing games such as The Witcher 3, Baldur’s Gate 3 and Tyranny. Such activities help reset my mind before delving back into my role at work.

Of course, your portfolio will speak volumes about what you can do. But let’s not discount the credibility and confidence you’ll earn by showing clients you have solid data security to protect the work they paid for – against leaks, mishaps or even cyber attacks. In fact, it may open up new opportunities with clients who require their suppliers to have comprehensive digital security safeguards.

Being a one-man (or -woman) outfit, you’re probably in charge of your own digital security and overall tech support. Unless you have deep knowledge on the subject, it would be easiest for you to get a simple, reliable solution that works directly out of the box with minimal tinkering on your part.

So which data security solution should you choose?

An ideal option for you would be one that offers security comparable to that of enterprise solutions; is low-maintenance and easy to use; and comes at a reasonable price that won’t throw your budget out of whack.

We know that’s quite a list. But you can actually check every item off just by choosing a cloud storage solution with robust digital security – like Treasure Cloud. Let’s take a closer look at what makes it a great option for storing as well as protecting your files.

Every file you share is strictly eyes-only

Treasure has Client-Side Encryption built-in. This means every file you share is protected by the most advanced level of encryption available today: AES 256.

Any file you send to a client will be automatically encrypted. Only the recipient can decrypt and view the file, so there’s no risk of your information falling into the wrong hands en route. Better yet, all this happens invisibly and automatically in the background. You won’t need to change the way you normally send and receive files at all.

No one sees your files without your say-so – not even Treasure!

When we say Client-Side Encryption, we mean it! As a Zero-Knowledge Cloud Service, the files you store and share using Treasure will only be seen by you and anyone you share them with. They can never be accessed or viewed by any uninvited third party – not even by the Treasure team. Your privacy is assured.

You can “fire-and-forget” permissions to access your cloud
When you’re working on multiple projects, Treasure helps you manage clients’ access to the files in your cloud account. You simply need to share a unique password with each client that lets them securely access only the files that are relevant to them. No need to worry about accidental cross-access of files between different clients.

To make things even easier for you, Treasure lets you set expiry dates on clients’ passwords. Their access will be revoked automatically once your project with them is over.

Get one cloud login to rule them all

Different clients may prefer different cloud storage platforms. This means you could end up having to keep track of a whole lot of different cloud logins.

Treasure allows you to consolidate access to all your cloud accounts under a single Treasure login – taking one more item off the list of things you need to manage.

Best of all, Treasure’s Universal Search function lets you search for files across all those platforms at once – making it feel as if you’re only using one cloud account.

If you’re a freelancer, this should give you a better idea of the kinds of features to look out for in a secure data storage solution. Even if you don’t ultimately end up going with Treasure, we hope you find one that helps make your work easier and more secure.

All the best out there. May all your clients be understanding, last-minute amendments minimal and any outstanding payments deposited on time!

What do you do at Treasure and how long have you been with the company?

I have been here for under 3 years, around the same time Treasure’s entity was created from Anquan. In the early days, I was mostly developing the vault product, especially on the lower-level c/c++ module. A few months after the cloud storage project was initiated, I transitioned to help the back-end development for this cloud storage, while still occasionally overseeing and maintaining the vault.

What is one thing that has surprised you about cloud storage/security when you started working at Treasure?

I initially didn’t have a lot of knowledge around security nor the inner workings of cloud storage before joining this company. Of course the cloud storage project (and the idea of it) also hadn’t existed yet when I started working here. When you don’t know much, it’s hard to be surprised – due to not having much preconception in the beginning. It’s mostly continuous step-by-step learning from zero to now.

What’s an accomplishment you’re most proud of since working at Treasure?

When we were gunning for FIPS certification for the vault product. I needed to modify and engineer some portion of the software triad that we were using: [main OpenSSL + OpenSSL FIPS module + Intel SGX framework]. The dilemma is a working version of [main OpenSSL + OpenSSL FIPS module] exists, but this version is not supported by Intel SGX. There also is an existing version of [main OpenSSL + Intel SGX framework], but this version doesn’t have FIPS module support. So in order to satisfy all three, some modifications are required in each of the modules, and that’s quite challenging at the beginning. But we managed to pull it off incredibly successfully!

Another more personal accomplishment is how much I have learned and adapted to in my short time at Treasure. I managed to create the back-end development for our cloud storage product quite well, despite next-to-nothing experience of back-end or web development in general. Whilst I still have much to learn, I’m excited to delve into the scaling and speed performance aspect of our company.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not at work?

I have recently became a parent so spend most of my outside of hours looking at my baby daughter’s face! I also am really interested in reading Japanese manga, exploring the latest reddit threads, and discovering Japanese cover bands on YouTube. Once in a while I will read something heavier, like a statistical learning e-book or some niche programming tutorials to elevate my work!

A pandemic swept across the world causing mass proliferation of Zoom quizzes, awkward elbow bumps, and stickers on the floor telling us where to stand.

The new normal didn’t seem normal and then everyone wished it would go away and bring back the old normal.

There were lockdowns, anti-social distancing, and virtual everything.

Big tech was hauled in front of Congress multiple times but is still harvesting our data for huge profits — which got even bigger.

Many businesses realized that most people can work from home — which employees had been trying to tell them for years. Cybercrime got real and we saw the lighting of a tinderbox of technological transformation that just waiting to flare into life.

So not much then.

Let’s take a closer look at what this year means for your privacy and ponder on what might be around the corner as we enter 2021.

What Changed in 2020?

As a result of being online so much more, people starting taking their online privacy more seriously. Meanwhile, big tech and social media companies came under more scrutiny and major cyberattacks rocked governments and big business.

Let’s look in more detail at the key changes that this black swan year marking the beginning of a new decade brought us.

There Was a Workplace Transformation

2020 saw a shift from the traditional office to the spare-bedroom office. A Stanford study from June found that the majority of the US workforce, at 42%, was working from home, given that another 33% were not working.

Remote work was already on the rise before Covid, aided by the advances in video calling, cloud collaboration tools, file-sharing, and reliable internet connections, but the real difference now is the change in attitude towards work from home.

The stigma is gone.

With benefits like fewer distractions, fewer unnecessary meetings, and more flexibility, many employers report that productivity is up.

Whereas before it was seen as a way to bunk off and gain a cheeky sick day, now it has been painted as the heroic way to save the world from the virus. With employees enjoying the freedom it brings, and more employers on board for the potential benefits, working from home is certainly going to become more of a norm for many office workers.

People Started to Notice Their Personal Digital Footprint

It wasn’t just coronaviruses that made the news in 2020. Computer viruses and cyber-attacks were on the increase as desperate people were taken advantage of by ruthless cyber crooks.
This coupled with the release of The Social Dilemma woke more people up to the importance of being aware of their digital footprint. This is the trail of information you unwittingly leave behind every time you visit a webpage, browse social media, or buy a product online.

As the Netflix documentary told us straight from the horse’s mouth, social media companies are data-mining machines, designed to harvest information about you and your habits. This is used to create a profile of you so that ads can be targeted with accuracy to maximise profits.

It’s not just social media either. Whenever you visit a website or click on a link online, you are being tracked and companies are bidding for your attention.

More people are waking up to the risks this poses and the importance of being more aware of your digital footprint.

Erasing your tracks as you go as much as possible may be wise in 2021.

Big Tech Got Bigger

Despite being hauled in front of politicians to answer for their monopolistic practices and intrusion into users’ privacy, Big Tech remains a force to be reckoned with. In fact, with many small businesses shut down, and smaller players struggling to survive, Big Tech got even bigger, with giants like Amazon benefiting from high street shutdowns and making record profits.

The social media giants have taken it upon themselves to be the ultimate arbiters of truth, calling themselves publishers when they want to moderate user content and control the narrative, and platforms when they want to dodge responsibility.

This has allowed them to buy out even more market share and gain even more power. Now is not the time to let your guard down against this unstoppable force.

Overall, 2020 Taught Us to Take Privacy More Seriously

As more and more parts of everyday life went digital in 2020, many of us realised that online privacy is just as important as real-world privacy. (Especially for those who went to the toilet with the headphone mic still live on a conference call).

Big data brings with it big power and big dangers.

Many more people are turning away from social media platforms, using VPNs to cover their tracks, and turning to tech platforms that respect their privacy and don’t auction off their information to the highest bidder.

Given this huge shift that we’ve seen, what can we expect from 2021?

It’s More Important Than Ever to Cover Your Digital Tracks in 2021

Just as governments never give up extra powers once they have them, people get used to technology and don’t tend to want to go back.

With new technologies moving faster than they can be regulated, it’s a digital wild west out there.

Tech companies can essentially do what they want and apologise later. Or just claim they had good intentions and aren’t responsible.

All of this means that you must take responsibility for your own data privacy and security.

We should expect more of the same from 2021. Continuing trends of working from home, more people conscious of cybersecurity and the importance of online privacy.

Big Tech will continue to exploit the public while making conciliatory noises during Senate hearings. So we must find other platforms if we want to protect our privacy.

New companies are sure to emerge that value their users’ privacy and make their money in other ways than selling off customer data.

Treasure is a cloud storage platform committed to your privacy and has a privacy policy designed to protect rather than exploit its users. It allows you to access all your cloud storage accounts from one dashboard without compromising your online privacy and security.

In 2021, look for other pioneers like Treasure that are on your side in the fight against online tyranny.

A recent poll by Kew research found that 62% of the American public believes it’s impossible to go through daily life without having your data collected and that 59% have a lack of understanding about data use.

Despite this, almost everyone continues to use the services these companies provide and most people take little to no precautions and don’t bother to read privacy policies.

Can we blame them though? A quarter of Americans say they are asked to agree to a privacy policy on an almost daily basis and 57% say this happens at least once a week.

Given that many of these policies are more complex than works of philosophy — more on that later — it is hardly reasonable to expect people to read all of them.

So we end up in a bind — a big tech Stockholm Syndrome where we are simultaneously wary yet strangely attracted to the very people who are holding us hostage. If you’re happy living with this situation, you do you. But if you’d rather break free from the bind, there are ways to overcome.

Have you got big tech Stockholm Syndrome? The problem of trust

While tech platforms provide us with incredible tools to make our lives easier and allow us to communicate with people around the world instantly, this comes at a cost and is not without risk.
Let’s take a look at some examples.

Do you use a service to store your passwords? These handy apps allow you to use strong passwords without having to remember them all. But what happens if it turns out that storing passwords with a password manager is “no safer than storing them in a text file”?

Do you believe your data is secure because it is encrypted by your cloud storage provider? But why don’t these services offer end-to-end encryption? Perhaps they want to have access to your data. What if the company you trusted to store your data securely was selling it off to the highest bidder?

How did we end up in this position? Where it is difficult to trust the very people who you are relying on for security and privacy.

Let’s take a look at the evidence. The place where they tell you what it is they do with your data and why. The document that is supposedly laying out the ways they are protecting you.

We need to talk about privacy policies

When was the last time you read through a privacy policy before ticking the box?

The New York Times analyzed 150 privacy policies and described them as “an incomprehensible disaster.” The policies were ranked by length and readability — how easy they were to comprehend for the average person based on factors like sentence length and difficulty of vocabulary. Basically testing how verbose and jargon-filled they were.

The study found that Facebook’s policy ranked in between Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason and Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time for ease of understanding. While it said that Air BnB uses “vague language like adequate performance and legitimate interest” to allow for a wide range of interpretations and thereby evade legal scrutiny.

“The vast majority of these privacy policies exceed the college reading level,” the article states. “And according to the most recent literacy survey conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics, over half of Americans may struggle to comprehend dense, lengthy texts. That means a significant chunk of the data collection economy is based on consenting to complicated documents that many Americans can’t understand.”

It’s not impossible to write a comprehensible privacy policy. The study found that the BBC did an unusually good job using short, declarative sentences. And Google’s policy has become more and more complicated over time.

“Things weren’t always this bad,” The report says, “Google’s privacy policy evolved over two decades — along with its increasingly complicated data collection practices — from a two-minute read in 1999 to a peak of 30 minutes by 2018.”

The in-depth investigation concluded that there is “an intractable tradeoff between a policy’s readability and length”. The shortest privacy policies packed in so much information, mostly jargon and complicated language, that they were unreadable. But the longer the policy, the less likely that readers will get through it. The best balance is perhaps to use clear, simple language at the shortest possible length to get the message across.

People don’t need to know the ins and outs of what is done with the bits and bytes, they want to know what are the real-world consequences of giving up certain rights to privacy.
The truth is privacy policies are routinely used by large corporations to confuse and intentionally mislead consumers. They are supposed to be statements detailing how they protect your data. They have become overly wordy disclaimers that do precisely the opposite. Designed to protect the company against lawsuits, rather than protect the privacy of the user.

What can you do to protect your privacy? Use a storage provider focused on privacy

Some companies do care about data privacy and want you to understand what they do with your data. So while it’s unlikely you’ll be able to avoid the problem entirely without living in a cave, you can at least make sure your cloud data is protected.

Cloud storage provider Treasure was built with your privacy as priority number one. The privacy policy is written with the user in mind. It is there to inform rather than to confuse. Obviously, some data capture and storage is necessary for things like billing and keeping you up to date.

Treasure’s policy simply explains why they need access to some of your data, the extent of that access, and what they do with it. Plus the options you have available to limit the amount and types of data used.

The team is so eager to make it clear and understandable, that although the privacy policy had to be lengthy in order to be clear and transparent, it is written in plain English so that you understand what you are signing up for. And the team created this handy explainer so that you can understand the main details at a glance if you’re unable to read the whole thing.

To get more information on the ways Treasure prioritizes privacy and security and view the privacy policy explainer, head to the website.

Many people are struggling to cope with this new normal, whether you’re an internet entrepreneur, freelancer, or a regular employee trying to work from home.

Although you’re free from the distractions of office gossip, unnecessary meetings and that guy who’s always shouting down the phone, working from home can be challenging in many ways too.

The constant distractions from other members of the household, lack of separation between work and home life and lack a dedicated workspace make it difficult to have a productive day. Not to mention all the laundry that suddenly needs doing!

But whether you love it or hate it, it’s the reality for many people right now. So the only option is to optimise your work from home space. With that in mind, we’ve come up with a list of tools and essential items to help you make the best of the situation.

Here are the top tools you need to make your home office a success.

Everything you need to set up your home office

For the purposes of this article, we’re going to assume you already have the bare essentials you need to do your job. For most people that means a computer, an internet connection and a plentiful supply of coffee.

The below tools will help you optimise your work-from-home situation so that you make the best of it and minimise the downsides.

A dedicated work desk is key

It may seem fun at first to stay in bed and work in your pyjamas but the novelty soon wears off. Before long you’ll be longing for your own space.

The answer is to set up a dedicated desk space, preferably in its own room. The ability to shut the door makes a big difference, helping you to concentrate and cut out distractions and noises
from elsewhere in the house. And having somewhere to house your work paraphernalia and organise your thoughts makes all the difference.

For video calls especially, it’s good to have a dedicated space with a respectable backdrop. Hint: put the laundry away before you get on the call.

Invest in a quality chair

According to the experts, a good chair provides proper support for your lower back and pelvis. Sitting for long hours in a poor position can cause back pain, headaches and a host of other health problems. If you think about how long you spend in a sitting position during the workday it makes sense. After all, you spend a similar amount of time sleeping and you wouldn’t compromise on your mattress and pillows.

A chair with good back support can improve concentration and increase the amount of time you can sit and do good work. Not to mention the fun you can have spinning around and pushing yourself across the room.

Think about proper lighting

It’s well established that lighting is an important factor in workplace productivity. And 68% of workers complain about the lighting in their workspaces.

The intensity of light coming into our retinas controls our circadian rhythms which in turn affect our sleep patterns, mood, concentration and alertness. Poor lighting can lead to eye strain, discomfort, and poor levels of focus. The good news is you’re in control of the lighting when working from home.

The best source of light is, surprise-surprise, the sun. If you can locate yourself next to a large window and get plenty of natural light, that is the best way to go. When it comes to electric lights, you want a balance — not too bright, not too dim. Using a desk lamp is a good way to have more control over your lighting. Point it at a white wall to diffuse the light or focus it on a document when reading.

Get yourself the best cloud storage and collaboration tools

Working from home, you’re probably going to be using a collaboration tool like Google Drive or a file sharing service like Dropbox to replace face-to-face collaboration and meetings. The problem with these services is that they don’t value your privacy. They retain the right to view and even own your files. And they are notorious for selling off customer data to the highest bidder.

Treasure is a new cloud storage provider that not only allows you access to all the other cloud storage and file-sharing services you already use, making collaborating and sharing files remotely a breeze. It also gives you the key to your own data’s encryption. This means that the big tech providers can’t look at your data and you retain all the intellectual property rights and privacy that you need.

Treasure provides end-to-end encryption on all your data and you can choose to hold the sole encryption key so you know no one else is looking at your private files. Or, if you’re worried about losing your key, you can choose to back it up on Treasure’s secure server just in case.

You can get a free Treasure account with 10 GB storage plus up to an extra 40 GB when you refer your friends.

Essential communication tools

Most companies already use tools like Zoom or Microsoft Teams for video conferencing, Whatsapp or Slack for instant messaging and Trello for project management and collaboration.

When you’re working from home and distant from your colleagues, these tools become even more important. Rather than being used for gossiping about co-workers within earshot, they allow teams to work together on projects remotely in real-time.

Get a webcam and microphone

If you have a particularly social job where you are often on calls, or if you need to make tutorial videos for work, a webcam and decent microphone will make a world of difference. Especially for those on the other end!

In a world where face-to-face interaction is less and less common, it’s vital to communicate clearly and you still need to make that all-important great first impression with clients and colleagues.
Good quality audio and visuals will help you communicate more clearly and will improve the impression you make on others.

Cut out the distractions by making your home office as good as it can be

Hopefully, these tips and tools will help you make the most of working at home and you’ll actually enjoy it.

Even with the best home office setup in the world though, it’s also still important to get up and go outside during the day too. It’s especially important to get a break from where you’re working, when it’s also where you’re living. Make time for a walk at the end of the workday to separate work from spare time, and to get some natural light and a bit of exercise.

You might just find you’re begging your boss to let you work at home even when the office reopens.