Google Drive has the ability to hold thousands of files including those that contain sensitive data. Although, Google Drive provides an extremely safe environment with very high security standards due to its exceptionally strong encryption standards, yet it carries a risk of data leaks as no platform can claim to be absolutely secure.
Google Drive data leaks can happen due to many reasons including the human risk factor. People may accidentally share a file with the wrong person or house sensitive data in a public folder. You must remember that files shares with public links are available to everyone including unauthorized persons and can even get picked up by search engines. Also, granting the ‘Editor’ access could mean third parties can easily download files without your consent as well as easily redistribute them.
There is also the lurking issue of old and forgotten files that have been shared by past employees. This data can still be accessible and leaked as no one has unshared them, worse, nobody even knows about their existence. Just imagine the scenario that such files contain sensitive business data, employee credentials and more that outsiders can use to circumvent your security efforts.
In this article we will be exploring a solution to this problem using a Free Google Drive Scanner from Metomic. This is scanner detects who has access to your data, and which files are publicly exposed so that you can evaluate the risks and take corrective action. Metomic constantly inspects your Google Drive to prevent any risks without affecting the access to the Drive by authorized users who are doing their jobs.
How it Works:
1. Navigate to Metomic Google Drive Scanner using the link that have appended at the end of this article.
2. Click on the button ‘Scan my Google Drive’ and login to your Google account to grant the necessary permissions to Metomic.
3. Wait for some time for the scanning to get completed. This can depend on how much content is stored in your Google Drive.
4. After the scanning is complete, a summary will be presented that contains a Risk Score along with the number of Publicly accessible files in your Google Drive, number of persons who have access to any files in your Google Drive and the count of files that have been shared directly with other people. You can scroll down the page for further information on each of these points.
5. Section 1 of the report gives you the list of files that are publicly accessible along with the name of the file, and the name of the creator of the document. You can click on the file name to directly open the file in case you wish to take any corrective action like unsharing the file or changing its permissions.
6. Section 2 elaborates on who are the people who have access to your Google Drive with the names of the files that they have access to. By default, you will be able to expand only one name and figure out the files that are accessible to that person. To unlock more information, you will have to subscribe to the paid plans of Metomic.
7. The last Section of the report details the files that have been shared externally including the count of the people that the file has been shared with and more. Like earlier, you can click on any file name to open it and make any changes.
8. Metomic automatically removes the access permission 24 hours after the scanning has been completed and deletes all the collected data. Content of any of your files in Google Drive is not read by the web application.
Closing Thoughts:
Metomic Scanner for Google Drive is a fine web application to detect which of your files in Google Drive are publicly exposed and who has access to your data. You can easily evaluate all the information provided in the report and take the necessary action to ensure the privacy and safety of data.
Click here to navigate to Metomic Google Drive Scanner.
