Securing Google Sites

Google Apps has many cool features and collaboration tools beyond email and calendaring. One of these tools is Google Sites.

Without having to know anything about HTML, Google Sites allows you to quickly create and share websites with whomever you like. You may choose to share the website with only your neighbor, all of your co-workers, your entire department, all faculty, faculty and students, or the entire world; it’s up to you!

Once you click on the Create a new site button you are presented with several options, including Site Name, Categories, Theme, etc. One very important option is the ‘Collaborate with’ setting. By default, the Everybody at boisestate.edu option is selected; leaving this option selected this means that EVERYONE with a Google Apps account not only can view your site, they can edit your Site as well!

Many of the Google Sites created at the University have been shared with all of Boise State with the Everybody at boisestate.edu option to edit the entire Site (some doubtless unintentionally).

To change the settings on your Google Site so that only you or a select few may edit your Site, click the More Actions button located in the upper-right corner of your Google Site and choose ‘Share this site.’ From here you can grant permissions for people to view or edit your Google Site.

If you would like to continue to allow everyone at Boise State to view your site, ensure under ‘Advanced permissions’ that Anyone at Boise State University – Apps for Employees may … this site is checked.

You may want to change the Edit vs. View selection under ‘Advanced Permissions.’ By default ‘Edit’ is selected; we suggest you select ‘View’ instead. Selecting ‘View’ will ensure that not just anyone can make changes to your Google Site. To grant edit rights to a select few, simply type the email address(es) of one or more invitees in the box below ‘Invite people to your site’ and click on the Invite these people button. You can then choose whether the editors are owners, collaborators or viewers. Granting only a select few the rights to edit your Google Site will better secure the Site, thus protecting it against cyber-vandalism or preventing any secure information from reaching the eyes of those who shouldn’t have access.

More information on using Google Sites is can be found on the OIT Help Desk’s How-To page for Google Apps.