Google has announced 11 security improvement to its workspace offerings to give users a more secure choice in productivity suites for Gmail, Drive, Meet, Docs and Chat.
The features include enhanced data loss prevention control in Gmail, the ability to automatically label and classify data in drive and new client-side encryption enhancements.
The announcement comes after a 38 percent year on year rise in cybersecurity attacks in 2023.
“Indy Wen, director of product management for Google Workspace, in a statement said . “Which is why we’re unveiling new zero trust, digital sovereignty and threat defense controls powered by Google AI to help organizations keep their data safe. there is a better way for organizations to combat modern cyberattacks and protect their data, which is a cloud-native architecture rooted in zero trust principles and augmented with AI-powered threat defenses”
Google CEO Sundar Pichai said his company is “making it easier” for customers to innovate using Google’s AI and generative AI new offerings. “Our generative AI capabilities give us an opportunity to win new customers and upsell into our install base of 9 million paying Google Workspace customers,”
Another set of tools include enhancements to sovereign controls that involve preventing third party data access by extending client-side encryptions to mobile versions of Google calendar, Gmail and Meet. With the new controls, users have the ability to view, edit or convert Microsoft Excel files into GSheets. Google is also working with Thales SA, Stormshield and Flowcrypt to store encryption keys in their respective repositories.
The other set of tools include the ability to combat phishing and other threats. Starting later this year, Workspace account administrators will need to set up additional authorization factors for their accounts starting with the largest resellers and enterprise customers. Google will also will add later this year the requirement for multiparty approvals of various high-threat actions, such as changing authentication settings.