Omniscope reporting solutions can employ many independent layers of file/data security settings, far more than other file-based 'reporting documents' like Excel. Omniscope also makes use of network identity-based and/or web-server/directory-based (Active Directory and LDAP) authentication options. However, unlike an SQL database held in the cloud, if the network/identity-based security is breached, mere possession of a copies of IOK files does NOT mean they can be opened and the data by unauthorised parties, because Omniscope also has layers of file-based security options.

It is good practise to always time-limit IOK files containing important data. If the files fall into the wrong hands, even if they are unlocked and otherwise unsecured, the proprietary Omniscope encryption and compression should hold the unauthorised users off the data for a few days until the IOK file 'times out', at which point no one can gain access to the data, no matter how much hacking they employ (assuming you use the Omniscope option to set the files to confirm the date/time independently from an Internet source outside the machine running the file. If you don't use this option, time-limiting can be defeated by changing the system clock on the machine running the file).

The best security is multiple, independent, layered security spanning both network/identity based, and file-based security. Omniscope permits file level security options to be added on top of network-based security to achieve multi-level security you can tailor. Omniscope file security options are outlined here:

http://www.visokio.com/file-security

Running analytics and reporting projects on instantly-available virtual, cloud-based, high-RAM machines makes a lot of sense, but many are reluctant to do this because they fear that their data in the cloud can be stolen. If you use an SQL database as the source in the cloud, this is much more likely than if you use a set of Omniscope IOK files as the source, provided you fully employ the range of layered independent security options Omniscope supports.