Google Workspace > Security features
A look at the key security, privacy and compliance features of the Google Workspace stack for businesses.
Cyberattacks and security breaches wreak havoc on businesses of all sizes around the globe. This does not only translate to an estimated 6 trillian US dollar turnover loss annually worldwide, but also to significant organizational downtime – sometimes even weeks – in case of a serious intrusion. As IT security has become more business-critical than ever, integrated security features are an important factor in the decision-making on their software tools and devices.
Let’s dive into the fundamentals of Google Workspace’s security features and how they work behind the scenes to secure your email, online collaborative environment and other tools.
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How is Google Workspace secured?
Google Workspace’s security features consists of a wide range of different security and privacy controls. All of these security best practices and tools are managed through the Google Workspace security centre.
Through this online dashboard, admins can monitor and manage security information and analytics to prevent, detect and remediate immediate threats and underlying causes. Key features available to admins in this environment are live security reports, the security health page and a security investigation tool.
Highlighted security features of Google Workspace
After acquiring a Google Workspace license for your organization, admins are invited to configure their environment. The security centre allows them to set up a few key defence mechanisms, including:
- Alert Center
Central dashboard for alert management with real-time info about key security threats, including phishing, malware and suspicious device activity. The API allows you to export alerts into your existing ticketing or SIEM platforms.
- Trusted domains
Direct control over how your teams can share and collaborate in Google Drive files and folders.
- BigQuery monitoring
Export audit logs straight into Google’s BigQuery data warehouse for additional insight and analysis.
- Endpoint management
Device protection through remotely managed policy settings, including forced screen locks and strong passwords and device or account wiping.
- Audit logs, security reporting and analytics
Direct insight into account activity and all encrypted Workspace data. Access, customize and export audit logs easily for further analysis.
- Vulnerability management
Active background scanning for security threats through third-party tools and Google’s own in-house threat detection software.
Asset protection
Google Workspace uses machine learning to protect email accounts against spam, phishing, and malware. Google’s malware scanner processes over 300 billion attachments per week. Attachments that contain questionable data and are deemed as threats get placed in the spam folder or are quarantined – ensuring that 99.9% of threats never reach users’ inboxes. The detection models also integrate with Google Safe Browsing, to allow you to navigate the internet safely. Additional tools for asset protection include:
Email spoofing prevention (through DMARC).
External reply warnings (against emails sent from outside the organization’s domain or a user’s contacts).
Gmail Confidential mode (including email access management through verification codes and limitations on printing, downloading and forwarding of messages).
Data loss prevention or DLP (through automated blocking and warning actions for content that is likely to contain sensitive data).
Access and authentication in Google Workspace
Some of the most helpful features for admins to keep a check on Workspace access by employees include authentication features like two-step verification, single-sign on (based on SAML 2.0) and e-mail security policies like enforced TLS connections. Information rights management helps to protect sensitive content, while the proprietary Cloud Identity IDaaS helps to manage users, apps and devices from the Workspace security dashboard.
Malware prevention
Google protects its Workspace environment using both manual and automated scanners to detect malware and phishing. Deep learning algorithms are used to adapt to fast-changing threats. Next to Google’s well-known Safe Browsing technology and permanent antivirus scanners for Gmail and Drive, the Google-owned VirusTotal software provides additional scanning capabilities.
Data recovery and data residency
Workspace includes data recovery capabilities that help you restore deleted files and other data.
In addition, Google Vault provides you with a solution to manage information critical to your business and preserve important data. Administrators can also choose where to store their organization’s data through the data region policy. This allows you to better comply with GDPR rules. Google Workspace Data recovery and residency in a nutshell:
- Restore deleted users and Google Drive and Gmail data.
- eDiscovery for easier search and exports of company data.
- Data residency in specific geographic locations.
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Privacy protection and data encryption
Google Workspace offers a number of tools that allows you to control how your business data is processed. Data encryption is at the core of Google’s data security and privacy policy, both for data in transit and data at rest. TLS email encryption and MTA-STS.
Regulatory compliance with international privacy laws and national frameworks
Is your business required to meet specific regulatory compliance? Google Workspace offers a number of certifications to allow you to operate in regulated industries across the globe. Some of Google Workspace’s independent third-party certifications include:
- ISO/IEC 27001 (Information Security Management)
- ISO/IEC 27017 (Cloud Security)
- ISO/IEC 27018 (Cloud Privacy)
- ISO/IEC 27701 (Privacy)
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Our status as preferred partner with Google allows us to provide additional support that would otherwise be out of reach for your business. Are you ready to build a smarter, more efficient and hybrid working environment? Get in touch with us.