Exactly how many files are stored in Google Drive? The company reported today that there are more than 2 Trillion files stored in Google Drive currently. That’s a lot of documents, folders, photographs, videos, and other content. Clearly, Google’s Drive has surpassed original expectations.

Google Drive was launched in April of 2012. Since that launch date, Drive has become the go-to cloud option for writers, companies, and friends sharing files. Drive is simple to use, relatively reliable, and users can save files in a number of different formats effortlessly. Plus, sharing files through Docs is simple.

But the one thing that remains in question when using Google Docs is security. Since Docs is free to use, and hosted in the cloud, some companies are starting to wonder just how secure Google Docs is.

Is Cloud Security False?

As has been mentioned before across the Internet, cloud security is only as safe as the company running it. In this case, Google is one of the most active companies where security is concerned (the company even has a special security team that regularly hunts for security flaws with other programs). Even so, the cloud is susceptible to attacks.

There’s also the fact that free services come with compliance rules. Whenever you agree to use a service for free (GMail, Google Docs, Dropbox, etc), you must also agree to the rules governing that app. In most cases, those rules include allowing companies to view material that you store within those apps or provide those companies with your information for advertising purposes.

But does this make an app a security issue? It depends on what you’re storing.

Company Data Issues

The biggest problem with using free apps like Google Docs is company security. With the rise of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), companies are now more susceptible than ever before to security issues. One person that uses a free app to store sensitive data, and then becomes a victim of a hack, can easily bring down a whole company.

In this specific case, using a program like Google Docs is not the best idea. If you run a company and your employees are using these programs without your knowledge, it’s up to you to make sure that they understand the risk involved (and that they can potentially get in trouble if they do bring the company down).

If you’re not storing any sensitive data (and, really, you shouldn’t be) using an app like Google Docs, you’re probably in the clear where security is concerned. Just keep in mind that any kind of cloud program can come under attack from hackers. Further, hackers are looking for holes in programs just to grab as much sensitive information as they can. All of that said, though, Google is (again) proactive when it comes to security.

Instead of waiting for a hack to happen, Google is amongst the few companies that prevents hacks from happening by looking for security flaws. This might be the reason that trillions of people have decided to trust Google Docs with all kinds of programs. Maybe.