Administrative Operations Connection

January 18, 2024 | For Administrative Operations staff

Purdue IT provides best practices for secure file downloads

As a new year gets underway, Purdue IT is providing some best practices to secure file downloads.

By default, Chrome, Edge and Firefox browsers automatically download all files to a user’s Downloads folder when saving files from the Internet. This folder resides on the C: drive of a computer (“C:\Users\username\Downloads) and is set by the vendor, but individuals can change this setting.

Sensitive files being downloaded should be stored in a secure location and not in a user’s Downloads folder.

Best practice recommends that users change this setting within their respective browsers and toggle the button to the right to “Ask where to save each file before downloading.” This ensures the user is prompted and can act accordingly by browsing to a secure location (i.e. W: drive) when saving sensitive files.

More information, including screenshots of the setting for each browser where users can enable this, is available through a recent Purdue IT article.