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Can't access main Admin account for Dropbox as email no longer exists

Hi -Our main admin left the company. We had access to her dropbox but the freelance IT guy came in, changed our emails from Fasthosts to another provider and cancelled the Fasthost plans, so that email no longer exists and cant be reinstalled.

We now have no access to the admin of this Dropbox account and the IT guy has full access as it looks like he's stored the passwords for when he was accessing stuff through Teamviewer - but we need that to stop immediately as other things have gone on

We can access the other account linked but they don't have admin permissions, and so our IT guy has full control of this account and not us?!

What can we do??

Thanks

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Megan

Hey @Joe 2, sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

I'm afraid that we won't be able to help much with this if you don't have access to the email address that was associated with the team admin's account.

Keep in mind, that if you use the old email address (even if the actual email doesn't exist) and the password, you should be able to access the account, unless Dropbox asks for a 6-digit security code, which in this case would go to the old email address.

Can't your IT share this info with you, in order to access the account? Does your team happen to have any other admins by the way?

Keep me posted!

Joe 2

unfortunately it is our IT guy who is the security breech - he has dropbox open under the main admin's email but it appears he has changed the password - I have tried to log in under the original email and password but it's being rejected. Unfortunately he knew we weren't very tech savvy and has used that to his advantage!

We don't have any other admins.

I've been in touch with our old email provider but they can't/wont do anything now the plan has been cancelled

Surely there has got be a way to sort this out??

Megan

Hi @Joe 2, it sounds like a complicated situation, and the fact that your IT had access to all the info, in order to access the account and change the password doesn't help.

I can't promise anything, but it's worth that we have a closer look into this. Can I send you an email?

Joe 2

absolutely thank you.

I've been messaging some one at drop box on messenger and we've got a bit more info but i'll put that in the email

Nancy

Hey @Joe 2! Sorry for jumping in.

I just logged a ticket for you. Please reply back to me, when you get the chance, and we’ll look into this further.

Vicky8

Hi All,

This post was very helpful, I have a similar situation. Can Megan please send me an email?

Thank you

Nancy

Hey @Vicky8! I hope you’re doing well.

Have you double checked if your Business team has a second team admin? You can also take a look here for the steps to follow.

If not, is there any chance that someone on the team has direct access to the current team admin’s email address?

Let me know, and we’ll take it from there.

Vicky8

Thank you so much Nancy,

I appreciate your prompt response, I will respond to your question soon.

Can you please let me know, how can be determined if admin has viewed, or opened files, documents on a member account, or made any changes, deleted files?

I read your instructions and it looks like the admin has access to all documents of the members.

Can you please clarify

Thank you Nancy

Megan

Hi @Vicky8, are you talking about Team files, or personal files in the member's space?

You also mentioned that you're going through a similar situation as the OP here. Can you share a bit more info in regards to that?

Vicky8

Hi Megan,

Thank you for your prompt response. I hope that I am not confusing you.
Please advise if admin can access business folders or files of an employee that is a member, not shared with other employees, or personal files that are linked with the business account.
If so, how a member can know if the files were viewed by admin?
Thank you Megan

Jay

Hi @Vicky8, if you're on a Dropbox Business team with an Advanced plan, the team admin can sign in as a user, and essentially view all files on their Dropbox account, as if they were that user.

There is also an option to notify the user if the admin did enable this option to sign in as a user.

Vicky8

Thank you Jay,

Under settings, plans I see Dropbox Business Legacy as a name of the plan.

Is that basic or advanced plan?

If admin can view files of members withot notifying them, it can come to breach of confidentiality.

Jay

Since the team admin of the Dropbox Business team technically owns the account, this means that all the data within the team, including that on the members' accounts, would be owned by the admin.

For more clarification on if the admin has the option to sign in as a user, you can contact them directly to see if they have this option.

Vicky8

Thank you Jay,

How a member will know if admin has opened files without permission, presumably the option to notify the member with an email when opened is disabled?

Is it the history tab only?

Megan

Hey @Vicky8, it all depends on the actions the admin takes when accessing the account.

if an admin signed in as a user and just viewed a file, the member might not be able to identify that.

An admin on the team -even if it's not the same admin- could use the Activity log to see that. As a member, you can use the Events page at www.dropbox.com/events which gives you an overview of all activity in your account including files events (adds/edits/deletes), as well as adding or removing shared folders.