Do You Have Dangerous File Sharing Habits? Follow These 11 Best Practices

Your teammates are likely sharing files across your organization to get work done, but that can open you up to cybersecurity risks. Dangerous file-sharing habits are more common than you may think they are. 

Don’t give criminals a backdoor to your files: Follow our 11 best file-sharing practices. 

What Are Dangerous File-Sharing Habits?

There are three different dangerous file-sharing habits you or your team members may be guilty of. The first is sharing corrupted files that are inadvertently corrupted with viruses, ransomware, malware or other harmful agents. When this happens, the impact can spread quickly across your network. 

Another dangerous habit is sharing files or photos that have proprietary data with the wrong person or someone outside your company’s data protection. This type of mistake can happen as easily as misspelling an email or using the wrong phone number without realizing it. 

The last bad habit involves file sharing across unapproved platforms, potentially bypassing firewalls or other cybersecurity protections.  

File Name Conventions Prevent Dangerous File Sharing Habits 

When you don’t have strong file-sharing policies or procedures around file sharing, shadow IT can occur. Like the last dangerous file-sharing habit we mentioned above, this is when staff members use devices, software or systems that are not approved by your IT department. 

One way to avoid this situation is to create a file naming convention. Every file in your organization should be named the same way. This makes files easier to find, gives standards that benefit everyone and makes it easier to manage files. 

An example of naming conventions are:

• {YYYY MM DD} {Department} {Document Title/Topic} such as: “20241030_Marketing_BlogTitle”
• {YY MM DD} {Subject} {Department} which would look like: “241101_FileName_Marketing”

How Not to Share Your Files 

Keep in mind that peer-to-peer (P2P) sharing tools or cloud applications are inherently insecure. Cybercriminals love it when you share files using P2P methods. They are an easy target for them as it opens a backdoor to your network and the ability to spread malware. 

Emailing can be secure, but you need to be sure that you are sending it to the right person to keep that security in place. Using a password-protected link is a better way to keep your files secure.  

The Best Ways to Share Your Files

To avoid dangerous file-sharing habits, use avenues that are part of your IT infrastructure. This helps keep the files protected with permissions and cybersecurity measures put in place by your IT team or vendor. When creating or updating your infrastructure, keep in mind that large files need to be shared.  

If you do decide to go with a file-sharing service, use one with a 256-bit AES encryption over SSL, which includes these services:

• OneDrive
• SharePoint
• Egnyte
• ShareFile
• SugarSync  

The 11 Best File-Sharing Practices 

Follow these 11 tips to avoid dangerous file-sharing habits:

1. Admins should be the only ones to set up folders.
2. Each department should set up its folder structure. 
3. Keep subfolder levels to five or fewer. 
4. Keep folder templates consistent across departments.
5. Sharing should only be done with groups of people or by department with individual users. 
6. Create different access options from “view only” to “author.” This gets rid of the fear of files being deleted, edited or moved without permission. 
7. Decide whether or not you want to share outside your organization. 
8. Create notifications for highly sensitive and critical information.
9. Avoid duplicate versions by using hyperlinks or shortcuts. 
10. Assign one person in each department to audit and oversee data. 
11. Use protected links when sharing files

Break Bad Habits With Support From an IT Company 

SynchroNet can help you keep your data safe and secure. Book a call with us to get started.