CIT considers Google services secure for the purposes of most Geneseo Office workflows and data. If you plan to use Google Drive or Google Forms to collect and/or store PII (Social Security Numbers, Driver's License Numbers, Passport numbers) please contact CIT prior to doing so.

How do I prevent Google from reading my information?

Google does not read our data or access it for advertising purposes. Google WorkSpace for Education has different terms of service than consumer Google services. You can read those terms service. Item 1.4 addresses them reading our data for advertising purposes.

Google has access to the information because they host it, which is a concern with any cloud service, however, Google security controls and compliance are FEDRamp certified and far more extensive than anything Geneseo could ever comply with. Google is considered secure for many storage scenarios and we have even certified Google Drive for storage of PII like social security number for some offices after proper training.

How do I control who can access my Google drive information?

You have control of sharing of documents in your personal Google Drive and Shared Drives you own, CIT recommends you use Shared Drives as much as possible for collaboration. If you do not share the files in your Google Drive folders outside entities will not be able to access them. You can give full control to others, let them view and edit but not share with others, or only allowing them to comment. Please see Google's help documents for more information and submit a request to CIT if you need more help with drive permissions.

External resource: Share folders in Google Drive
External resource: Share and collaborate in shared drives
External resource: CIT strongly recommends you Prevent editors from re-sharing or changing access permissions

Who else Geneseo or SUNY has access to the information?

There are several global admins at Geneseo within CIT that have access to any data in our Google Domain. Access is restricted and logged. Geneseo administrators typically only use this access to provide support to document owners. No one in SUNY or the State has access to Geneseo data in our Google domain. 

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