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Google makes this extremely difficult to do. Nick Santora, CEO of Curricula, said, "The way Dropbox uses folders allows us to segment data by department and only give employees in that department access to those folders. Compare Google Drive’s encryption to that offered by the VDRs at Caplinked, where even files at rest. Data in motion is data most at risk, but that does not mean it automatically becomes safe once it stops moving. Google Drive lacks cohesive organizational permissions, for example. Google Drive uses 256-bit SSL/TLS encryption for files in transit and 128-bit AES keys for files at rest. "If your files are subpoenaed, depending on what Google decides, it might not take a security breach to forfeit your privacy," said Monica Eaton-Cardone, chief operating officer of Chargebacks911.Īnd as is often the case with cloud services, the most significant risks aren't related to the encrypted infrastructure, but with the user, and Google Drive has a number of user-related vulnerabilities. Moreover, Google is subject to governments and law enforcement. This is in contrast to apps like Signal, where not even the company that runs the app can access your data. For most computer users, Google Drive is more reliable, automatically backed up, relatively safe from ransomware, and almost certainly more secure from theft.
"They have the power to decrypt files which can make them easier for hackers." "Because they are in control of these encryption keys, it can lead to vulnerabilities for its users," said Kristen Bolig, founder at SecurityNerd. Encryption keys are tools that let Google (or whoever has the keys) decrypt files, bypassing all their security. Some security experts don't love that Google keeps encryption keys for all the files on Google Drive.