In the past few weeks we’ve talked about what’s going on up in the cloud, including big data and cyber security. We’ve yet to reach the innovations from the novels of Jules Verne and HG Wells—but we’re getting there (time travel? I wouldn’t rule it out at this point). And there’s still the requirement of accessing oceans of data through a machine. Who knows? Perhaps the cloud will eventually materialize above our heads and we can access our accounts and files from thin air. For now, however, we must rely on computers and smartphones to enter the data dense world of cloud computing.

But there are measures to consider when utilizing these devices, especially when they’re used as a primary business tool.

These past few months, American security systems seem to have virtually checked out while Chinese hackers are checking in. The hackers’ jobs have even taken a turn to professionalism—hackers, apparently, get weekends off too.

Punxsutawney Phil’s shadow was MIA, which points to an early spring in our future. But we’re a little skeptical of wagering our bets on the absent shadow of a groundhog, in spite of his good track record (and what was up with last weekend’s blizzard? Oh, Phil!). Weather, life in general, it’s all unpredictable, and your data can be caught in that unforeseeable cyclone and annihilated before you can say, “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.”

We’ve heard the phrase “one in a million” but how about “one in a quintillion”? Now there’s a term that will make you feel microbial.