Though most of the enterprises have jumped on the cloud storage, there are many security risks associated when we consider cloud storage and sharing. If you consider such popular file storage and sharing apps like Dropbox or Office 365, no privacy regulations or security concerns are associated with its design. So, what are the security risks of cloud computing that are associated with cloud file sharing? No doubt some of it is no control over data, data leakage, snooping, etc.

Besides, public cloud storage can be an expensive affair for many companies. Free, open-source cloud computing software for cloud file sharing comes as an effective solution in this context.

What is an open source cloud file sharing?

Cloud file sharing, also popularly known as cloud-based file-sharing or online file sharing, is internet-based. It is a system where a user gets allotted cloud storage, which is basically on a server and carries out read and write operations over the internet. Cloud file-share provides users with the ability to access files from any devices connected to the internet and location independent. Any user available over the internet can get granted access to a file by the administrator as required. Furthermore, cloud file sharing is someway or other relies upon the service provider’s ability to provide the service. It includes the high availability of the files as well as the backup and recovery on time.

When we perform this file share in an open source way, many open-source cloud computing projects are on cloud computing. They offer more storage, security, and control over file handling. Apart from generic nature, you can get such open-source cloud computing projects specific to your need.

Related post – Is Serverless computing the future of Cloud computing?

Top 5 Free Open source cloud file sharing platforms

1 . NextCloud Files

NextCloud Files is the most popular cloud computing platform for file sharing in the market. NextCloud allows you to share files and helps to share calendars, email contacts, and enable collaboration and data synchronization. Since public clouds are not safe for data, NextCloud addresses this issue in its own way. Instead of working around the limitations, NextCloud Files stresses a security-first solution. This covers not only public cloud issues but also includes the private and hybrid cloud.

Besides, NextCloud enforces on data compliance like HIPAA, GDPR, etc. It has some unique features like

– Virtual data room (VDR)

– Industry best practices for security

– Rule-based workflow management

– Packs text and video chat apps.

– Self-hosting,

– Open source file sync and share solution designed to be easy-to-use and highly secure.

– Password-protected file sharing and public links for file uploading.

NextCloud Files lets users track file modifications, downloads of shares, and changes to comments or tags, providing an overview in the browser, clients, or via email notifications and an RSS feed.

Industries served

– Healthcare

– Education

– Financial sector

– Media and Advertising

– Law firms

– Construction and manufacturing

2. OwnCloud

It is a market-leading open-source software for cloud-based collaboration platforms. ownCloud has 50 million users worldwide with a community popularly known as ownCloud Community Edition. It is the market-leading open source cloud file sharing platform. Furthermore, it is the oldest one on the list. You can use it free of charge. Besides, it offers many productive features for managing cloud file sharing, document control, and folder sharing. ownCloud is hosted exclusively on your own private server/cloud, so you can rest assured that your data is under your control. ownCloud is all about your privacy and works to protect your files. ownCloud download/upload file collaboration is password protected. Thus, it ensures that access is controlled only by the one who should have control. So, users get seamless access to the files.

ownCloud is all about your privacy and works to protect your files. It ensures that access is controlled only by the one who should have control—seamless access.

3. Ceph

Ceph provides a traditional file system interface with POSIX semantics. Object storage systems are a significant innovation, but they complement rather than replace traditional file systems. Built on a software layer known as RADOS – Reliable Autonomic Distributed Object Store, a Ceph Storage Cluster manages object storage across the cluster. Besides, it provides the object, block, and file-sharing services to client applications. Applications can interact with Ceph’s object store using either OpenStack Swift RESTful APIs or Amazon S3. Ceph file system (CephFS) also supports cloud file sharing, a POSIX-compatible file system interface that supports RADOS.

Ceph may be preferred for organizations that need to support object and block storage, in addition to file storage. As a Ceph administrator, you require an understanding of the technologies behind object storage. Thus it may need a learning curve for some organizations. The CephFS file system provides scalability as well as speed for file sharing. Also, Ceph has the below features:

– It is object-based

– Maintains centralized metadata

– Provides lower latency with data scale-up.

– Perfect fit for organizations which need low-latency storage and quick scale up or down.

4. Pydio cells

Pydio Cells is an open-source on-premises file management platform that is written in the Go language. Initially, Pydio’s backend was PHP-based. However, later the developers changed its Go server language with a microservices architecture. It is a reliable file hosting platform that can sync files from anywhere in an efficient manner. This next-generation cloud file-sharing platform follows a microservice architecture. File transfer over Pydo cells is very secured and supports various protocols like WebDAV. Apart from this, Pydio has features like

– Version control

– In-app messaging

-Android and iOS supported mobile apps

-Collaborative approach

– Security policy

-Encryption facility

-OpenID connect-based authentication

-Advanced features in enterprise versions

5. Sea File

Sea File is an open-source cloud file sharing platform which is Python-based. It is highly reliable, productive, and provides collaboration across platforms and systems. Sea files’ notable features are its secure file-syncing capability, built-in file encryption, password-protected download link, and enterprise-ready environment. Besides, you can easily make file versioning, file locking, online editing, user management, data recovery, etc.

Conclusion

The above mentioned five open-source cloud file-sharing platforms are flexible and proven solution. However, they are no ultimate games in the industry. You may opt for a more straightforward tool or a more dedicated one. Also, you may need to file syncing instead of file sharing. In that case, you can use Syncthing. Ultimately it’s your or your organization’s need that decides the selection of the tool.