Key Points

• Google Drive, despite its collaboration benefits, poses security risks due to accidental sharing and limited native controls.
• Metomic addresses these risks by automating security policies into workflows, enabling efficient data classification, access management, and external sharing control.
• This moves organisations from reactive security to proactive protection, ensuring sensitive data remains secure and compliant.
• See how you can clean up and secure your Google Drive account in 15 minutes by watching our latest webinar.

If your company has a data security risk stemming from Google Drive, chances are it's already happened. At some point, someone has shared a file in error, forgotten to update access settings, or neglected to classify a document properly.

In this guide, you'll discover the risks of insecure Google Drive data and learn best practices to fully secure your Google Drive and protect your sensitive information.

Is Google Drive Data Secure?

Google Drive has transformed the way businesses collaborate, enabling teams to work seamlessly with shared files and real-time updates. However, the very ease of sharing introduces risks—especially as organisations accumulate vast amounts of sensitive data. Without a structured approach to security, the risk of unauthorised file access increases exponentially.

While Google Drive offers native security controls, they have limitations, including:

• Short retention periods for audit logs
• Basic classification capabilities reliant on regex, leading to high false positives
• A lack of enforced classification policies across organisations

📝Report: The Risks of Storing Sensitive Data in Google Drive

Staggeringly, our 'Google Drive Risk Report' highlights over 350,000 of the files analysed were left publicly accessible, meaning a lot of businesses aren’t doing enough to protect their data from breaches and potentially exposing vast amounts of sensitive company data.

Key Highlights:

• After scanning approximately 6.5 million Google Drive files, Metomic found 40.2% contained sensitive data that could put an organisation at risk of a data breach or cybersecurity attack.
• 34.2% of all the files scanned were shared with external contacts (email addresses outside of the company’s domain).
• More than 350,000 files (0.5%) had been shared publicly, giving access to anyone who had the document link
• 18,000 files were flagged as “Critical Level” data files, meaning the information contained “Highly Sensitive” data or the file permissions were not applied securely.

Have a read of our findings in full, showing the risky nature of storing sensitive data in Google Drive.

What are the Security Risks in Google Drive?

As we have mentioned, Google Drive is not completely secure from malicious cyber threats.

Here are some of the security risks that could spell trouble for your organisation:

1. Phishing and social engineering

Google Drive is a secure platform and does contain plenty of security features to help protect your data, such as encryption, two factor authentication (2FA), and phishing and malware detection tools. 

However, even with these tools, the weak security link in all of these is the human element. Phishing and malware databases need to be constantly updated, making it likely that an attack may slip through the net. After that, all that’s needed for a data breach is for someone to click on a suspect link.

And even worse, the humble phishing email has received a new lease of life with the advent of Generative AI. Whereas previously, phishing emails were easy to spot through their terrible spelling and grammar, AI can create perfectly legible emails that can pass a cursory glance. 

It’s even sophisticated enough to write the code necessary to create passable landing pages to help capture an unfortunate target’s identity credentials.

Not to mention social engineering - why steal the keys to the kingdom when you can get your targets to give them to you with a few well placed questions?

2. Connection to multiple devices

If one of your devices that is connected and signed in to Google Drive is misplaced or stolen, the thief potentially has access to everything in your Google Drive, including any sensitive financial data you’re storing in there.

Considering that just over half the UK population has lost at least one phone, it’s easy to see how this can be a pretty big problem.

It is more difficult to steal a laptop from a home or your person, but because mobile phones and tablets are smaller and more mobile, they are by their very nature at greater risk of theft and misplacement.

3. Connection to multiple accounts

Now, multiply the problem in the previous point by how many people are using that Google Drive. Any Google Drive used for work will have multiple accounts connected to it, which increases the potential attack surface exponentially. 

Accounts you share financial information with could also experience a breach that could reveal your data.

4. Data encryption stays with Google 

Google Drive's encryption sits on the server side, and not the client. This poses risks for storing financial data, as users entrust all security to Google. 

This reliance on one company heightens vulnerability to breaches. It's crucial for individuals dealing with financial information to diversify storage and employ additional encryption for protection.

5. It’s not specifically designed for financial data

While Google Drive does offer secure storage options, it isn’t specifically designed for financial data storage, leading to concerns about the platform's suitability for the storage of sensitive information. 

The limitations in comprehensive security features, in comparison to specialised platforms designed for financial data storage, means that you could be leaving yourself and your organisation vulnerable to risks - such as data breaches and cyber attacks. 

6. Typical hacking risk

Ever present is the risk of brute-force hacking attempts. The risks of this are fairly low due to the overall security of Google Drive, and of modern technologies in general.

Plus, it makes less sense to try and brute force your way through heavily protected systems  when you could spend less time and effort getting the people you’re targeting to let you in with phishing and social engineering (more on that later). 

But the risk of brute-force attacking is never zero, so don’t take it for granted that you won’t suffer such an attack. After all, brute-force hacking attempts to crack passwords occur every 39 seconds.

7. Lack of control over third-party API’s

Google's ecosystem easily integrates with third-party applications. This is great for compatibility with platforms and applications your organisation is already using, meaning you don’t necessarily need to use a brand new technology ecosystem to take advantage of it.

However, this does raise concerns about potential security vulnerabilities. The lack of direct control over these integrations increases the risk of unforeseen issues, and users may be unaware of all security measures or vulnerabilities within third-party integrations.

The result? Data data stored on Google Drive could be compromised if vulnerabilities in third-party APIs are exploited by hackers. Furthermore, users have limited oversight and control over the security practices of third-party developers.

Vigilance is crucial when integrating third-party services with Google Drive, particularly for storing financial data.

8 Best Practices on How to Secure your Google Drive Data 

For organisations to fill the gaps left in Google Drive’s basic security features, security teams should follow the following best practices: 

1. Strengthening access controls

Financial institutions should limit access to their most sensitive documents. Exposed data increases the risk of unauthorised access or public exposure, especially through settings like 'Anyone on the internet with the link can view'.

2. Enabling Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)

Without MFA, an organisation's defences are inadequate. MFA adds an extra security layer by requiring a second form of verification (like a text message), making unauthorised access much harder. It’s also important to use MFA that follows a zero-trust model.

3. Monitoring account activity

Financial institutions should use automated tools to monitor employee and contractor activities within your Google Drive. This allows unexpected changes in sharing settings, downloads of sensitive data, or third-party app access to be flagged and rapidly addressed.

4. Backing up data

Regular backups are essential, particularly for emergency situations where data recovery might be challenging. Also, it’s important to have a contingency plan in case Google Drive ever has service interruptions.

5. Educating employees

Financial institutions should train their employees to be vigilant about data security. Knowledgeable employees can better manage sensitive data and make smart sharing decisions, acting as a shield against breaches. We call this the Human Firewall. 

6. Implementing a Data Loss Prevention (DLP )tool

A modern DLP tool can automate security tasks and scan Google Drive for sensitive data, showing who has access. This saves time and offers added oversight over how secure the company’s data is.

7. Adding extra encryption

For the most sensitive data, financial institutions may need to use zero-knowledge encryption, which Google Drive doesn’t provide. Adding this extra layer of encryption helps to ensure that these most important records are as secure as possible. 

8. Comprehensive auditing processes

It’s important to set up thorough auditing processes to track who accesses and modifies data within Google Drive. Regular audits help identify potential security gaps and ensure that data handling practices meet the stringent standards required in the financial sector.

Google Drive Data Security Policy

This table outlines the key Google Drive security measures related to file classification and access control.

Automating Google Drive Security with Workflows

With Metomic, companies can enforce these policies efficiently using Workflows, a set of automated jobs that apply security controls at scale. This eliminates the burden of manual clean-ups and transforms data security into an ongoing, manageable process:

Step 1: Enforce File Classification

The foundation of Google Drive security is proper data classification. Metomic enables bulk classification updates with these workflows:

1. Public Files Review: Identify public files → Notify authors → Options: Justify, Restrict, or Revoke.
2. Default Internal Classification: Set all files as Internal, except those created by designated groups or containing large amounts of PCI/PII data.
3. Confidential Classification: Apply Confidential to files owned by HR, Finance, and Leadership.
4. Highly Confidential Classification: Apply Highly Confidential to files with large PCI/PII data.

Step 2: Apply Security Controls

Once files are classified, security measures must be enforced:

1. PCI File Access Control: Revoke access if Finance team is not using the file.
2. Highly Confidential Restrictions: Disable download, print, and copy functions.
3. Confidential Files Domain-Wide Sharing: Automatically revoke domain-wide access.
4. Confidential External Shares: Notify authors to justify or revoke access (recertified every 60 days).
5. Restricted Label Enforcement: External shares missing the Restricted label trigger a reclassification request.

Step 3: Manage External File Shares

External sharing poses the greatest security risk. These workflows help maintain control:

1. Revoke Inactive External Shares: Files without the Internal label and untouched for 2 years lose access.
2. Review Active External Shares: Notify authors to confirm or revoke files updated within the last 2 years.
3. Public File Review: Public files without a Restricted label trigger author notification.
4. Ongoing Public File Audits: Public files with a Restricted label require employee recertification every 30 days.

Securing Google Drive Doesn’t Have to Be a Nightmare

By implementing workflows with Metomic, organisations can swiftly transform their Google Drive security posture from reactive to proactive. What once seemed like an overwhelming security challenge becomes a manageable and automated process, ensuring that sensitive data stays where it belongs—protected and accessible only to those who need it.

With just a few clicks, Metomic helps you secure your Google Drive, enforce policies, and maintain compliance, so your team can focus on what truly matters: innovation and collaboration.

🔒Metomic in Action: Clean Up and Secure Your Google Drive in 15 Minutes

You already have sensitive data in Google Drive, but do you know who has access to it? Security tools often focus on preventing future risks, but what about the data that is already exposed?

In our webinar, we will walk through how you can:

• Identify and classify sensitive data across your entire Google Drive
• Fix access risks and remove unnecessary exposure in a few clicks
• Apply retention policies to keep data under control without disrupting workflows

Instead of hoping for the best, take practical steps to reduce the risk of data breaches and keep your SaaS environment secure from day one.