Google Drive is used by many organizations and is prized for the ease of collaboration it provides. You simply create a Google document, hit “Share,” and start working on it with your team.

People share files every day, but unsharing often gets forgotten as we move on to the next project. The files stay shared with customers, partners, freelancers — or sometimes even with “Anyone with the link,” leaving them accessible to anyone on the internet.

In the past, this might have lingered in the back of the minds of security officers, IT managers, and Google admins. But with the recent wave of privacy and security regulations like GDPR, ISO 27001, NIS2, and DORA, it’s now a requirement for organizations to control access to information and be able to demonstrate that they have done everything to prevent unauthorized access to their data.

Most organizations have adjusted their Google Drive settings to limit sharing for sensitive files. However, this only applies to new files created after the settings were changed, leaving millions of older files still in open access. Many IT managers, admins, and CISOs are looking for a way to remove excessive access from their company’s Google Drive files.

Can you unshare multiple files at once?

Not with just what’s available in Google Admin Console.

Fortunately, there are tools like Florbs that can bridge that gap.

How to unshare multiple files at once?

Step 1: Identify who you would like to unshare files with

For example, you might want to remove sharing with “Anyone with the link”, as this leaves your files open to anyone on the internet.

Or you may have a particular user in mind that you want to prevent from accessing your files, or a former partner company that should no longer be able to open your files.

Florbs security dashboard helps you spot potential data leak risks, such as files shared externally, with “Anyone with the link,” with entire companies, or with personal accounts. It shows you who has access to your files, which users or external domains have the most files shared with them, and other vulnerabilities.

Step 2: Decide which files you'd like to unshare

You might focus on removing external sharing from files in a specific shared drive or folder. Or unshare files that are labeled “Confidential.” 

It’s also smart to unshare files that haven’t been used in a long time, following the “just in time access” principle recommended by most data protection regulations. For example, remove Editor permissions from files that have not been modified in more than 6 months, or remove external access from files older than a year.

Step 3: Set up a security policy to automatically unshare similar files in the future

Protecting your files from unauthorized access is only part of meeting data protection rules. Data security is an ongoing effort that needs regular attention. To stay compliant, set up a policy that doesn’t just protect current files but also automatically unshares similar files in the future.

The policy will run on a schedule you set, automatically checking for similar files and removing sharing as needed. Automating these compliance tasks will save you time and reduce hassle, helping you keep data secure with less effort.

"Using Florbs was incredibly quick and efficient. It only took me about a minute and a half to search for the files I needed, select them, and write a bulk action. If I had wanted to address this issue organization-wide, I could have done so instantly. Florbs saved me a lot of time and made the process much smoother"

Jonathan Sessions

Director customer experience at Virtua Computers - a US-based managed service provider.

Read the full use case here: https://florbs.io/florbs-empowers-managed-service-provider-to-secure-client-data-in-google-drive/