ISU students, faculty and staff now have an online cloud storage option with unlimited space available for use free of charge through CyBox.

CyBox, which is located at iastate.box.com, is a contracted service through box.com that allows students, faculty and staff to store unlimited amounts of data online and is accessible by logging in with university email addresses.

The storage amount was previously capped at 200 GB, but as of December, was expanded to allow for unlimited storage, according to Mark Bland, systems analyst for IT services.

What makes CyBox different from other file storage solutions?

It is cloud and web based, so the primary interface is through a web browser, and it is a platform that can be used in conjunction with mobile apps available on Android, Windows and Apple devices, said Darin Dugan, systems analyst for IT services.

“[CyBox] lets you get to it much more easily without having to use the web browser all the time, or having to be in a specific lab or a specific office to access it,” Dugan said. “It’s a little bit different way of thinking about it.”

It is available to all ISU students, who may use it for course work, personal documents or anything where data storage may come in handy. Faculty and staff can use it for institutional use.

“I think for faculty and staff, we position [CyBox] as a replacement for keeping all your files on your computer, which puts those things at risk,” said Dan Ryan, director of communication and marketing for IT.

An aspect of CyBox that is an upgrade from normal file servers is the ability to collaborate with other users. A user is able to share different files with classmates or co-workers and can be accessed with a click of a button, allowing for instant collaboration on different projects.

These files can even be shared with people outside of Iowa State. It just takes an invite by their email address, Dugan said.

The university’s contract with CyBox allows users access to the security measures the cloud storage solution has in place. These features, such as encryption, meet security requirements for all types of data, from student grades to health information.

Students are able to keep their data for life, but the amount after leaving the university is limited to 50 GB. If students have more than 50 GB of data stored, they would not lose any data, but they would not be able to store anymore without removing data.

There are currently more than 29,000 actual users on CyBox with approximately 90 TB of data being stored.