With Spring among us, it is time for a good reset. While you are going through spring cleaning at home, consider also doing some spring cleaning at work and within your Google Drive. All University of Maryland faculty and staff have access to Google Drive and likely utilize this on a daily basis. Google Drive makes file management and collaboration an easy process. While the use of Google Drive is encouraged, it is important to recognize that not everything can be done through or stored on Google Drive. At the University of Maryland we have defined levels of data sensitivity, as well as the appropriate systems for storage or management of that data. If you are not familiar with the data classification levels, you can review them here. It is important to note that Google Drive is only permitted to store Level 1 and Level 2 data. Despite how easy it is to use Google Drive, you should not be using it to do anything that involves typing out and storing your entire social security number or credit card number.
Here are some common scenarios that result in the storage of sensitive data in your Google Drive:
- You have been with the University for 5+ years - It is easy to accumulate quite a few files once you have been working at the same place for an extended period of time. It is even easier to forget about things that you did once and never had to use or revisit again. Consider thinking about if you have forgotten about files in your google drive, and if you still need them.
- You completed travel reimbursements prior to the implementation of Concur - The old travel reimbursement process required a form to be filled out and submitted, which required users to provide their Social Security Number as part of its completion. Google Drive makes it easy to fill out electronic forms like this, and it is easy to forget about after completing and submitting it.
- You use your personal Google Drive on your University Device - An important first note is that this is NOT permitted. If you use your personal Google Drive account on your University device, it is easy to get files mixed up and downloaded to the wrong Drive.
- You work in HR - This line of work interacts with sensitive data, like social security numbers, frequently. In some cases. files can be unintentionally downloaded and synced to your Drive.
You have your Google Drive synced to your desktop - If you agreed to sync your Google Drive and desktop, it is possible that sensitive data has made its way into your Drive account. To check if this is enabled follow these instructions:
- For an Apple Device:
- For a Windows Device:
If you have reviewed this list and are curious if you have sensitive data in your Google Drive, a quick and easy way to check would be to do the following:
- Go to your Google Drive account and in the search bar at the top, type in some keywords such as:
- SSN
- Social Security
- Tax
- Credit Card
- Travel Reimbursement
These are some identifiers that Google Drive will locate within files and will highlight for you. If you have files pop up, check them for sensitive data and remove it (if it is present). The appropriate steps for sensitive data removal would be to:
- Simply delete the data from the file,
- Delete the file completely from your Drive,
- Move the file to Box if you need it on your University Resources, then promptly delete it from Google Drive,
- If it is personal data, move it to your personal device and delete it from your UMD Google Drive.
The SPARCs team has been working on locating and remediating instances of sensitive data storage in University Google Drive accounts. If an email is received regarding this, please be aware that it is not spam and it is pertinent to review the flagged files immediately. Attached is a screenshot of the email you would receive.
If you have any questions about sensitive data storage, please contact sparcs@umd.edu. Happy almost Spring, and happy Spring Cleaning!
- For an Apple Device: