Cloud storage certainly has a lot going for it. For a start, if you drop your laptop into the sink, it’s likely that a lot of your important work will be backed up somewhere in the cloud, as long as you’re using services such as Google Drive, OneDrive, and iCloud.
Then there’s file sharing: Not too many years ago, swapping large amounts of data with other people meant dragging and dropping and running around with USB drives (and perhaps even mailing them). Now, via a couple of clicks and a link, you can share just about anything with just about anyone, anywhere in the world.
However, this comes with security risks attached. You don’t want those links making their way to anyone they weren’t intended for, otherwise they’ve got access to your files and folders. They could potentially see what’s in them, and maybe even make changes or delete files, depending on the permissions you’ve set.
It’s worth emphasizing that sharing files through these cloud storage services isn’t inherently insecure—these shared links are actually very well protected, by default. However, the longer they stick around, the bigger the risk gets. Your links could get mistakenly forwarded in an email, or one of your contacts could have their email account hacked.
With that in mind it’s prudent to run a regular audit on the cloud sharing links you’ve got active. It shouldn’t take long: The apps involved usually make this pretty straightforward. Once you’ve closed a link down, no one else can get to it.
Microsoft OneDrive
If you head to the Microsoft OneDrive portal on the web, you’ll see a Shared link in the navigation pane on the left: Click this, then select By you up at the top of the file list to see everything you’ve shared with other people. Use the Modified header if you want to sort the files and folders by the oldest or most recent.
Click the three dots next to any file or folder, then Manage access to control who can get to it. If you’ve shared the file with specific people, you can remove some or all of them; if the file or folder is shared more widely with just a link, clicking the trash can gets rid of it. You can also open up Office files to manage access there.
It’s worth knowing that when you opt to share a file in OneDrive on the web (via the three dots and Share), if you click the cog icon on the Share panel you can set an expiration date for the sharing—which saves you the trouble of having to tidy it up afterwards.
Apple iCloud
If iCloud Drive is your cloud storage service of choice, once you’ve got the main interface up on the web, you can click Shared on the navigation pane on the left to go straight to the files and folders you’re sharing with other people. There’s no easy way to sort them, but you can use the search box up in the top right corner.
Turning off sharing for a file in iCloud.Courtesy of David Nield