Google has notified UNI IT they will be applying a Drive Security update to make link-sharing more secure on September 13, 2021. Security is a critical factor in managing our data in Google Drive, so we will be applying this update to a some of the files in our domain. Google will be sending an email on July 26th (similar to the message below) to users with impacted files, this will includes actions you will need to take and a link to the impacted files.
Here are some important aspects we have learned about this change:
- Files that will be affected by this security update are non-native Google files (e.g. Microsoft Word, PDFs, MP4s, etc.) shared prior to 2017. Google files (Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms) will not be impacted.
- Any Google user (internal or external) should be able to access any file they have accessed before, even after the update has applied. Users can request access if they have not accessed the file before the update.
- Only users (internal or external) who haven’t viewed the affected files previously will be affected by this change. If a new user uses the old link, a request will be sent to the data owner to allow access.
- You will need to share a new updated link (URL) for any files that still need to be publicly accessible with a link on websites or posted elsewhere. New links can be generated starting July 26th.
We ask that if you have questions or concerns about this email, please contact UNI Information Technology via servicehub.uni.edu and your question or concern will be routed to the appropriate team.
Additional information from Google can be found at: https://workspaceupdates.googleblog.com/2021/06/drive-file-link-updates.html
