On Tuesday we wrote about making a smooth transition to Google Apps. Now that you have shepherded your co-workers through this period of change, it’s time to think about securing your data in Google Drive. Let’s look at four easy ways you can do this today.
Synchronize your Data
Go to the Google Drive download page and select the right version for your use, either Mac or PC. We did this at Backupify and it has made sharing synchronized documents simple and dare we say fun to do. It’s also great to be able to point a colleague to the shared Drive folder when they ask for the latest version of a file. Once you have synchronized your data, a Google Drive icon will appear on your desktop and your files will live in the cloud and also on your machine.
Update Account Recovery Options
To date, Google Drive has proven to be a safe place to work and share documents of all sizes. However, there is always a chance that security could be compromised. One of the easiest ways to protect against this is by ensuring your account recovery options are updated within your Google account.
Visit the Google Security page and click on Account Recovery Options. This will take you to the Recovery Options setup screen. Here you can secure your account from hackers by adding a secondary phone number and email address to verify your account. By adding a phone number to your account, Google can send you a text message to reset your password. You can also add a secondary email address that can be used to login if your account becomes compromised.
Setup Offline Access for Chrome
This tip works in conjunction with setup of desktop synchronization we discussed above. Offline access will allow you to work on Google Drive projects when you don’t have internet access. All the info you need to get setup can be found on Google’s website here. The beauty of this setup is that you will now be able to make edits to your Google Drive documents when you do not have internet access. Your files will update in Google Drive once you regain internet access.
To get setup, click “Offline” from the left hand navigation within your Google Drive account homepage. From here there are two steps to complete setup. If you have not already installed the Google Drive web app, you will need to do this first. Once that step is complete, you can click on “Enable Offline”. Google Drive will automatically crawl all the files within your Drive, enabling them for offline access. Depending on the size of your files, this can take several minutes to finish.
Backup Google Drive
The security tip that never goes out of style. Google Apps Backup is the best way to gain peace of mind if a data loss event occurs, your files will be a click away from being restored to your account. In most cases data loss won’t happen but you want to be ready in case it does because three out of five companies that suffer a major data loss shut down within six months of that event. Think of cloud backup like an insurance plan. It’s there when you need it most.
What other security measures have you taken with your Google data? Share them with us in the comments below.
