IT services to scan for confidential information in Google Drive and network documents

As part of the effort to protect confidential information stored at Miami, IT services will begin scanning documents stored in both Google Drive for faculty and staff and in network drives at Miami.

IT services is looking for confidential information. These automated tools will be scanning for social security numbers and for credit card numbers by performing pattern matching.

When a file is identified as potentially containing either of those items, it will be manually reviewed by the security, compliance, and risk management team in IT services. If the file is found to be a true positive result, someone from the team will contact the owner of the file to determine if the data can be deleted. If it cannot be deleted, IT will work to ensure that appropriate protections are in place to protect that data from unauthorized disclosure.

More detailed information has been presented to the IT policy committee of University Senate and also to University Senate as a whole. The scanning process will go live Tuesday, Nov. 1.

It will take several weeks before all of the targeted files at Miami have been scanned. The scans will then take place on a regular basis going forward to ensure that any new files containing confidential information are also identified.

If you have any questions about the process, please send them to Joe Bazeley, assistant vice president for security compliance and risk management, at bazeleje@MiamiOH.edu.