Last Updated on 01/08/2019 by TDH Publishing (A)
Reportedly, Google is raising its bars concerning security for businesses. The company recently unveiled a host of new protections for its G Suite, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and Cloud Identity customers at the Next Tokyo summit.
G Suite Enterprise admins can choose to enroll high-risk employees in an advanced protection program, automatically obtain anomalous activity alerts and enable one-click access to additional apps.
A version of the Advanced Protection Program that it released two years ago is now accessible to G Suite business clients who are at a high-risk for a targeted online attack, such as IT administrators, CEOs and those who operate in security-sensitive roles in finance and government. To protect against phishing or account takeovers, the program would enforce the use of compatible two-factor authentication hardware keys like Google’s own Titan. Admins are even able to automatically block access to third-party apps that the company does not trust.
Google has also made improvements to its G Suite security and alert center for admins, which is released in beta back in April. The new alert center is presently equipped with machine learning models that detect security risks such as unusual external file-sharing or download behavior. Admins can now obtain alerts of such anomalous activities in the G Suite alert center. It will also bring support for password vaulted apps through Cloud Identity over the next few days.
Titan Security Keys, which only have been available in the US since last fall, are now available in Japan, Canada, France, and the UK. The wireless Bluetooth-enabled key in the package has drawn criticism from the security community over safety concerns. Google recalled some of its Titan Security Keys earlier this year due to a minor security flaw.
Security concerns are a huge reason why Google’s productivity platform is not quite taking off with larger businesses, who tend to stick with Microsoft Office for that very reason. Earlier this year, the company launched several new security tools for G Suite clients, including a beta release of advanced protection. By making this latest set of tools widely available, Google hopes to prove it doesn’t take the security of such high-profile clients lightly.
