

Google encrypts all your files "on the fly" to ensure that your data is always stored securely and that only the file you actually want to access is decrypted. This adds an extra layer of security to the data stored on its servers. Although this isn't as strong as 256-bit encryption, it's still considered future-proof for the time being.įor added security, Google encrypts the AES encryption keys used to encrypt your data with a rotating set of master keys. Once your data arrives with Google, it's encrypted to keep it secure within its cloud servers – and Google uses 128-bit AES encryption for all data that is at rest. This means that your data is always encrypted when it moves from one Google server to another, and during synchronization with your various devices.

Google also encrypts your data whenever it is in transit within its internal network. This is the very same encryption standard used to secure browser connections to HTTPS websites, and a quick check with the independent encryption auditing tool Qualys SSL Labs reveals that Google’s TLS connections are rated A+ (which is as good as it gets). To mitigate this threat, Google encrypts your data using TLS encryption before it's uploaded. When you upload data to Google's central servers, it must travel there via the internet, and this means that it could be intercepted while in transit.

The first potential security risk your data can encounter is during transmission. So, what kind of security does Google Drive really offer its users? If you want the full story, or are considering Google Drive as an option, you'll want to check out our Google Drive review. Evidence of Google Drive working hand-in-hand with the NSA on its PRISM surveillance program has already surfaced, after all. However, anyone using Google Drive to back up sensitive documents may have concerns about how secure the service really is. Google Drive is an easy and efficient way to back up data to the cloud, and, because it is available for free (up to 5GB of storage) with a Gmail account, it's extremely popular. In this guide, we'll take a look at these popular storage solutions to figure out just how secure their service is. These day, there are several key services that users tend to gravitate towards Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, and iCloud. So what's the solution?īacking up data online with a cloud storage service is an excellent way to protect against loss. There have even been reports of users losing their entire photo library when updating their Windows operating system, much to their dismay. Hard drives can become corrupt, making local storage risky, and a mobile device can similarly be lost, stolen, or broken. All of us have a huge amount of documents, photos, videos, and music that we want to keep safe – but doing so isn't always a straightforward process.
