It’s known in the tech industry that an organization’s users are the biggest security threat in the entire system. This isn’t always malicious or the user’s fault, but often simply happens to have too much permission and not enough training. Mistakes get made and unfortunately it can cost the organization a lot and even result in the user losing a job.
We’ve worked with more than one client that had not set permissions in advance, and allowed the users to do it their own way. We receive an urgent support request from a stressed owner or administrator who is reporting a user deleted a significant amount of files accidentally. The user thought they were clearing only their files, and didn’t realize they deleted the files for the whole company.
Luckily, Google has some safety measures in place if you respond quickly. Generally, all the files can be recovered within the first 48 hours. In these scenarios the stress is really high, relationships can be damaged, and consequences can be drastic. Losing files is just one issue. Other issues can be sensitive files that are shared outside of the organization or publicly without knowing it. Again, these scenarios often come down to permission settings.
It’s obvious that it is much more beneficial to prevent these mistakes and focus on user permissions throughout Google Workspace, and in particular in Google Drive. Permissions start from the Google Workspace Admin Console and then are applied on the folder and Shared Drive levels with careful thought and consideration.
When Digital Ninja has the opportunity to help a client with Google Drive permissions we often gain more security throughout the entire Google Workspace system. This is because teach our clients how to leverage groups for permissions, and can also help set higher levels of security standards for email, user access to other Google products in the overall suite of applications, and ultimately gives your admins the understanding to mitigate breakdowns caused by users.
Digital Ninja Consulting has built a specific service for this aspect of Google Workspace and has successfully helped organizations be empowered by their files instead of feeling like they are swimming through a kitchen junk drawer of files…just think about most people’s downloads folder. It is often easier for the user to redundantly download a file they already have then it is for them to find and trust that the version in their downloads folder is the one they need. This results in redundancy, lost security, and unnecessary work.
Let us help you avoid these breakdowns. Click here to check out our Google Drive services.
