How to Avoid File Sharing Spam on Google Drive

One of the problems that we face when we surf the Internet is Spam. The normal thing is that it reaches us by email, which is all the junk e-mails that we constantly receive, but also through other means such as SMS, social networks … One of them is also Google Drive, the platform for storing files on the cloud. We are going to explain what this problem consists of and how we can avoid Spam in Drive .

Why Spam is a Problem in Drive

We can say that Spam is all spam or junk messages that we receive. Sometimes it is simply advertising that we are not interested in, but at other times it can lead to a real security problem. It is because they can take advantage of a simple email to also sneak malicious links or even files that we download and are malware.

Avoid File Sharing Spam on Google Drive

In the case of Google Drive the problem is similar. Although at first it may seem that spam cannot reach this type of cloud storage service, the truth is that it can. They could share files with us as if you were any legitimate user. This can be simple advertising spam, but also worse.

If you share files of this type with us to promote a product or website, it may not be more than that and it does not affect our privacy and security , beyond the inconvenience it may cause. But it could also be that those files they are sharing are actually malware and were created to steal passwords or collect data.

This makes Spam a real problem for Drive. As it is for email or via SMS, it is important to take it into account and reduce it as much as possible. In this way we will prevent them from using it so that we click where we should not, download a virus or end up on a page that is actually Phishing and can steal our passwords.

What to do to avoid spam on Google Drive

So, can we do something to stop spam from coming through Drive? The truth is that yes, since the service itself has an integrated function that we can use. This will prevent us from receiving shared files that we are not interested in and that, as we have seen, could become a significant security problem.

We are going to explain the steps to take to reduce Spam on Drive. We will not have to install anything additional, but simply make use of the configuration that this platform has.

Go to the Shared with me tab

The first thing we have to do is log into Google and enter Google Drive. There we will see all the content that we have stored, as well as the different options to configure it. One of the tabs on the left is Shared with me . That is the one that interests us.

Evitar el Spam en Drive

There we will see all the files that have been shared with us at some point and we have not deleted. They can appear both legitimate and those that are Spam and we want to avoid. The latter are the ones that will interest us.

Lock files in Drive

To avoid receiving spam files in Drive, what we have to do is select the one that interests us. You simply have to click with the right button of the mouse on the corresponding file, a drop-down menu will open and we have to click on Block this contact.

What this allows is to send the email that has shared a certain file to the black list. In this way we will no longer receive shared documents from you and we will avoid Spam. It is basically the same thing that we can create with the spam filter in Gmail or another provider.

Inaccessible files

Keep in mind that these files that we have blocked, as well as anyone who has previously shared that contact with us, will be completely inaccessible . We will not be able to edit, read, etc.

This would also happen if we have shared something with that contact or if we want to do so in the future. It has been automatically blacklisted and makes files inaccessible. However, at any time we can unblock that user and everything returns to normal.

Can we protect the account and avoid spam?

We have seen how to avoid Spam in Drive and not receive more junk files. Now, can we have something else in mind to avoid reaching this situation? After all, if we receive shared files of this type, it is because somehow they have known what our account is.

One of the most important tips is to avoid making the email address that is linked to Drive public. For example, it is important to avoid making it available to anyone on the Internet, both users and bots. This happens if we write in an open forum and leave the email address in place. The same would happen if we put a comment on an article on a website and we are not careful when displaying the data.

But you also have to indicate the importance of protecting the account itself. That is, we must use a good password that helps prevent intruders. That key must be totally random, unique, and contain letters (both uppercase and lowercase), numbers, and other special symbols.

On the other hand, if we protect our computers we will also prevent them from getting to know personal data such as e-mail address. We can use a good antivirus , such as Windows Defender that comes with Microsoft‘s system, but also other alternatives such as Avast, Bitdefender or Kaspersky.

Therefore, Spam is also a problem when using Google Drive. Whenever we use this cloud storage service, we must be aware that we can suffer from security problems and that our data is at risk. We have seen how we can block Spam and also some tips to prevent our address from being used for bad purposes. Increasing protection is synonymous with avoiding junk files that affect us.