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How safe is Google Drive for storing banking and investment documents?

This week’s question comes from Alex (paraphrased):  

 

Is it safe to use Google Drive to store all of my banking and tenancy/investment documents? How often should I change my password?

 



Vijay Nyayapati from Redbrick Technology Limited kindly responds below: 

 

Google Drive has been strong on security, provided you follow their recommendations such as having strong passwords and enabling multi-factor authentication.
However, I would strongly recommend that you read their Terms of Service and Privacy Policy as Google seems to claim ownership of their customers’
files. This means that your stored data can potentially be used for banner ads. This does not mean that they will be throwing your files all across
the internet, but can use the content for targeted advertisement. One way to mitigate this is to encrypt data that is stored on Google Drive.

 

Passwords – It is generally a good practice to change passwords regularly – say every 3 to 6 months, or immediately if you hear or suspect a breach. The
key to remember is to have different passwords for different logins. For more tips such as these, please remember to sign up to weekly tips here

 

 

Additional comments from APIA: 

Note that there are certain IRD requirements for storing tax records electronically. Click here for more information. Additionally, you may want to refer to this excellent resource on the various legal requirements for
electronic document recording provided by the Archives & Records Association of New Zealand here.

 

Do you have any tenancy related questions? Write to us at [email protected] or hit us up on our social channels here and here

 

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