Secure spreadsheets are a critical component of a modern, data-driven culture. Spreadsheets are the go-to data tool for most teams, but typical spreadsheet usage can be a big security risk and violate basic data governance and privacy regulations. Many data teams loathe Excel and Google Sheets as an inescapable thorn in their side.
Row Zero is a secure spreadsheet built for big data that solves the key spreadsheet security risks. In this guide, we'll share 5 ways to improve spreadsheet security and show how Row Zero offers a secure online spreadsheet solution for companies with big, sensitive datasets.
Why are spreadsheets a security risk?
Typical spreadsheet usage in many organizations presents a widespread security risk and data governance nightmare for several reasons:
- Data proliferation - Spreadsheets make it easy for anyone to view, copy, and share data which can quickly proliferate data and lead to untraceable data leakage without proper data governance controls.
- Ubiquity - Spreadsheets are the most widespread data tool, used by all skill levels, seniority levels, and industries. The sheer surface area covered by spreadsheets is massive, making them hard to manage from a data governance standpoint.
- Legacy processes - Excel and Google Sheets were introduced well before the modern data stack or modern security protocols existed and have hundreds of millions of users with decades old habits for how they use spreadsheets and engrained processes that are not conducive to modern data governance best practices. Some spreadsheet habits like saving files locally and emailing attachments are still widespread.
- Engrained in culture - When it comes to data governance and security, spreadsheets are sometimes given a pass or are overlooked because they are so ubiquitous and engrained in existing processes.
5 ways to improve spreadsheet security
Row Zero is a secure online spreadsheet that was built to solve the security and performance limitations of legacy spreadsheet usage. Below we explore 5 ways to improve spreadsheet security and data governance with Row Zero.
- Connect spreadsheets to your data sources
- Set access controls
- Restrict data export
- Enforce data deletion
- Provide solutions for big data
1. Connect spreadsheets to your data sources
Securely connecting spreadsheets to your data sources is a big win for security and efficiency and is one of the biggest things you can do to improve data security in your organization. Connected spreadsheets unlock several major benefits:
- No files or downloads which can drastically reduce the risk of data leakage in your org.
- Automatically updated - connected spreadsheets dynamically update with the latest data, so you don't have to rebuild spreadsheets with new data or create new versions.
- Write-back to the data warehouse - rather than downloading files, users can export spreadsheet data directly to the data warehouse as new tables.
- Improved data governance - data teams can make “source of truth” data easy to access, default, and automated.
- Built-in access controls - connected spreadsheets can be set to inherit access controls from your data warehouse, so you can ensure that data is shared securely and access is limited as needed.
Row Zero makes it easy to connect to your database or data warehouse with built-in connectors to Snowflake, Databricks, Postgres, Redshift, BigQuery, and S3. Data teams can create and share one-click data sources backed by governed SQL queries and users can easily create dynamic spreadsheets that update with the latest data. Row Zero supports SSO and OAuth for seamless, secure data connections. Everything built on connected data stays in sync and auto-updates including pivot tables, charts, etc.
2. Set access controls
By establishing access controls, you can ensure teams have easy access to the data they need while preventing unauthorized access. Access controls can be set at 4 levels:
- At the data source - For example, you can set table and row level security in the data warehouse on a per user or per role basis. This ensures users can only access data they are authorized to see.
- At the application level - For example, you can set up Row Zero so that your company's spreadsheets can only be accessed via secure company login via single sign-on (SSO).
- Per spreadsheet - By default, each spreadsheet is only accessible to its owner. Owners can give view and edit permissions to specific team members or organization-wide.
- Per user - When you set up OAuth data connections, Row Zero inherits access controls from the data warehouse for each user, so the data they can pull into a spreadsheet from a given data source is limited to what they have access to.
Access controls are critical for preventing data proliferation and are required for adherence to privacy regulations like HIPAA, GDPR, CCPA, etc.
3. Restrict data export
Restricting data export is critical to ensuring good data governance and security. Downloading, sharing, and copying data can lead to untraceable data leakage and make it impossible to comply with customer data deletion requests that are required for compliance with modern privacy regulations. Even if you've set robust access controls, if users can download, copy, or share that data then the access controls won't be effective. Legacy spreadsheets are the poster child for widespread data proliferation and problematic data leakage.
Row Zero offers a robust solution for restricting data export:
- Enterprises can choose to fully restrict data export from Row Zero, so there is no way to get data out.
- Copy and paste can be disabled or limited to a trivial data size
- External sharing can be restricted
- With connected spreadsheets, there are no files or downloads to get your data in or write back to the data warehouse. Your data never leaves the cloud.
By giving business users secure access to data warehouse data in a spreadsheet tool they know how to use, companies can turn off data export across their tech stack, greatly improving data governance and security.
4. Enforce data deletion
Data lifecycle and deletion policies are required for modern security and privacy compliance. Here again, it's common for CSV and Excel files to live in email attachments and on employee computers for years without proactive management. Once the data has proliferated, it's nearly impossible to trace it down. Legacy spreadsheets are a critical failure point for enforcing data lifecycle rules in many organizations.
Row Zero makes it possible for enterprises to enforce data lifecycle rules automatically. For example, spreadsheets can be automatically deleted X days after they were last opened.
5. Provide solutions for big data
When non-technical users need to work with big datasets, they need a secure spreadsheet solution for viewing, cleaning, and analyzing big data. This has historically been a critical weakness of Excel and Google Sheets. Due to their data limits, users seek out risky workarounds like splitting up files or uploading files to random websites to view and edit their data. Row Zero is specifically built for big data and supports billion row datasets on enterprise plans (1000x Excel's limits), so it offers a powerful and secure alternative to Excel and Google Sheets.
Even if you've done items 1-4 above to securely connect your spreadsheets to your governed company data, it's likely your teams will still need to work with large files they get from customers or external vendors. Row Zero makes it easy to open large files and clean big datasets. Row Zero opens a variety of large file formats including CSV, TSV, TXT, parquet, JSONL, XLSX, etc. Row Zero also automatically unzips and opens .gz files.
Conclusion
Secure spreadsheets are a critical part of the modern data stack. As datasets grow larger and security scrutiny increases, many companies are evaluating their spreadsheet security risk and assessing their Excel security and data governance protocols, while exploring alternative solutions.
Row Zero is a secure online spreadsheet built for big data. Teams can securely access data warehouse data in a spreadsheet tool they already know how to use, and easily create connected spreadsheets that auto-update. Row Zero's enterprise security features let organizations restrict data export, sharing, and copy/paste. Companies can enable SSO so spreadsheets are only accessible via secure company login, and set up OAuth data connections so that connected spreadsheets inherit row level security from the data warehouse. Row Zero is HIPAA and SOC 2 compliant and used by some of the world's largest companies to securely work with big data in spreadsheets. You can try Row Zero for free or request a demo to learn more about how Row Zero handles spreadsheet security.