When Google Drive first came out there was a lot of talk about privacy issues, but privacy issues caused by the Google’s Terms of Service for Google Drive, which gave Google a lot of freedoms. Today we’re gonna talk about possible dangers for privacy that exist from everyone else, except Google. We are gonna share with you some basic tips on what to do so that files and folders inside your Google Drive are protected, at least protected better.
Google Drive is a data storage service Google started offering to its users only recently and it has already found a lot of users. Like with every other service that Google has to offer in its arsenal, Google Drive is free, but there are also paid versions available for everyone who is interested in getting a little bit more from their Google Drive account.
Password protecting your Google Drive folders and files
All those who are interested in password protecting their Google Drive folders and files will be disappointed to find out that for the time being this is not possible to accomplish, at least not directly for each individual folder inside Google Drive. Passwords can still be used on your Google account, in its entirety, but Google is not offering an option with which you can protect and lock files with passwords.
What can be done to protect data from being seen by others?
Locally on your computer to protect your Google Drive folder from being opened by someone you don’t trust you can encrypt it with the help of software like My Lockbox. This software password protects you folder and no one will be able to open it without knowing the password that you place on your Google Drive folder:
Encrypt folders before uploading to Google Drive
This is the the best thing to password protect folders, in fact folders are password protected this way, regardless of what kind of sharing setting folder has. Recently we had a review of TrueCrypt, free software which is very simple to use and that you can use to create encrypted files protected with very advanced encryptions, the likes that security agencies use. You can then upload these files to your Google Drive account and when you need them, they can be downloaded and decrypted with the password that only you know. Using password protected RAR files is even better, because they can be opened on Android phones with Unrar app.
Conclusion
Since Google is not offering password protection for folders, we are forced to find other ways of protecting our data. Two which were previously mentioned are very good at providing additional protection and they should serve you well, at least until Google introduces something similar in Google Drive.
