Wherever you work, it is very likely that your company is at least somewhat reliant on Google Drive to do business. This makes perfect sense when you consider the general ubiquity of Google products and user familiarity. (Can you remember the last time you used another search engine?)

But the easy choice is not always the right choice, especially when it comes to protecting your data. There are certainly benefits to using Google Drive, but they are all rendered moot the second your data becomes vulnerable. Fortunately, when it comes to secure file storage and synchronization, Google Drive is not the only game in town.  

Google Drive Is Lacking When It Comes To Security

Launched in 2012, Google Drive offers 15 gigabytes of free storage and paid plans available up to 30 terabytes. It has all the cloud space a company could ever need, and well over a billion users. Those are impressive numbers, but they are not the ones you need to be focused on. If you are dealing with sensitive data you should be most concerned with how many levels of encryption your storage service utilizes.  

Google Drive Encryption

Google Drive uses 256-bit SSL/TLS encryption for files in transit and 128-bit AES keys for files at rest. Data in motion is data most at risk, but that does not mean it automatically becomes safe once it stops moving. Compare Google Drive’s encryption to that offered by the VDRs at CapLinked, where even files at rest are protected at the 256-bit standard. If Google Drive is the fenced mansion in the nice neighborhood, a CapLinked VDR is the safe inside the vault inside the mansion. 

Google Drive’s problems don’t just exist in theory. As recently as this summer a flaw was discovered in the “manage versions” feature that would allow hackers to swap out a legitimate file for malware. Google Drive is a favorite target of hackers because of how widely used it is, and you can be sure they are on the constant lookout for more opportunities to tamper.   

No Plug-ins Mean No Opportunities for Hackers

A CapLinked VDR requires no software plug-ins or updates, which is itself another layer of security. It is possible to use Google Drive without third-party plug-ins, but many Chrome extensions exist, and that makes for another potential vulnerability, especially given that Chrome, as another Google product, is implicitly trusted by Google Drive. These are exactly the kinds of situations hackers are counting on. Exploiting the weakness of an already established plug-in is as close to a sure thing as cybercriminals get.  

Maintain Greater Control With a VDR

If you are trying to finalize a company merger or share legal documents you’ll want to minimize the number of people with access to the pertinent documents. In addition to the higher sustained threshold of encryption, a VDR also affords you more control over who can see the data and when. Visitors to the VDR leave a virtual footprint each time they enter and are not able to print or copy the data without your explicit permission. You can also revoke access after it has been granted. This is a level of security and control not commonly found. A VDR keeps your data safe by empowering you, the user.  

Working Collaboratively Is Easy in a VDR

It’s not just that a VDR is more comprehensively encrypted than Google Drive. With fast upload speeds, short setup time, and an intuitive layout, a CapLinked VDR is ideal for managing a project and working collaboratively. The Q&A Assignments, aka Subject Matter Feature, allow you to designate specific administrators to answer questions from specific permission groups, and the integrated instant messaging lets everyone communicate quickly and safely. 

There is also an activity feed that lets you know in real-time when any changes have been made in a Workspace. Each time you make a change, your VDR creates and saves a new version of the file, so you can always be sure you are looking at the most up-to-date iteration of your project.    

VDR Customer Support Is Available 24/7

In addition to military-grade encryption, customizable permissions and intuitive, real-time workspaces, CapLinked is available for around-the-clock support for customers who invest in an Enterprise plan. If you start paying for Google Drive you will get incrementally larger allocations of cloud storage space, but at no point will the data inside that space be any safer, nor will Google be interested in educating you about how to better protect your data or optimize the capabilities of Google Drive. 

CapLinked’s customized training will enable you to get the most out of your VDR and in turn keep your clients happy. Get in touch today to start a free trial!  

Rafael Carillo is a writer, editor and tutor living in Brooklyn.