The world is changing fast, and on the web, security is one of the things that should evolve faster than the trends themselves.
G Suite is a suite of cloud computing, productivity and collaboration tools, software and products developed by Google. Meant to be used by corporate users, Google is adding some security features to make its Gmail, Meet and Chat services a lot safer for users.
According to Google on its announcement:
"That’s why today we’re announcing new updates that provide even stronger security in Gmail, Meet, and Chat. We’re also unveiling new ways to help IT admins easily manage and secure devices in the Admin Console. "
BIMI Support On Gmail
First up, is Gmail.
For G Suite users using Gmail, one of the major new features introduced, is the support for Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) in Gmail. With the feature, companies can validate ownership of their corporate logos to significantly reduce spam and online scam.
"Once these authenticated emails pass all of our other anti-abuse checks, Gmail will start displaying the logo in existing avatar slots in the Gmail UI," explained Google.
By putting corporate logos visible in places where email recipients see the avatar of the sender, BIMI here should provides benefits to the whole email ecosystem.
The BIMI support is introduced as a pilot program to only a limited number of senders. The Certification Authorities to validate logo ownership include Entrust Datacard and DigiCert.
"To prepare for the post-pilot launch of BIMI and to generally help secure the ecosystem, we encourage organizations to start adopting DMARC. We look forward to a successful pilot, and to making BIMI generally available in the coming months, at which point organizations can choose if they want to adopt this standard," said Google.
Meet With More Controls
The second, is Google Meet.
Google said that it is giving Meet meeting hosts an increased control over who can 'knock' and join meetings. Once a person is rejected, that person won't be able to re-join that particular meeting unless they are re-invited.
And also, if someone's knocking request has been denied multiple times, they will be prevented from sending any more request to join that meeting.
Google is also giving meeting hosts some advanced safety locks so they can better protect meetings.
With them, hosts can decide which methods of joining (calendar invite or phone, for example) require users to obtain explicit approval to join. Using these safety locks, should make hosts capable of blocking anonymous users who aren't yet logged into a Google account from attempting to join meeting.
"These features add to the protections we’ve already put in place to prevent brute-force attacks, so even if an attacker guesses the meeting code, they wouldn’t be able to enter the meeting without the host’s permission. If the host mistakenly admits the attacker, the chat and present locks would help prevent the meetings from getting disrupted. Finally, if any abuse were to occur, users can report it directly within the meeting," said Google.
These security are introduced after Google acknowledges the infamous 'Zoombombing' fiasco, where random strangers could enter Zoom meeting rooms and messed with things.
Google said that it is rolling out the security features and controls, initially to education and consumer accounts, before making them available for enterprise customers.
Enhancing Chat With Gmail-Like Security
And finally for Chat, Google is introducing Gmail-style phishing protections to the integrated communications platform.
First, all links sent via Google Chat should pass real-time checks using Safe Browsing data. This way, any malicious link detected will be flagged.
"We are extending the strong phishing protections we have built within Gmail to Chat. If a link is sent to you via Chat, it will be checked against real-time data from Safe Browsing and flagged if it’s found to be malicious," said Google.
Users can also report and block Chat Rooms if they suspect malicious activity.
Second, Google can also automatically detect and limit abusive content from being delivered. So for example, spammy invitations that can be classified as spam, in some cases, can be blocked automatically.
Simplified Management And Additional Controls For Admins
Behind most corporate communications, IT admins are frequently at the center of keeping employees online, productive and secure.
To help them with their job, Google is also introducing several new feature to keep their company's communications secure.
First, is by simplifying and enhancing device management, which includes a way to quickly see the number of devices managed by each service.
"We've redesigned the devices page in the G Suite admin console to include more intuitive navigation for device management and to quickly display the number of devices managed by each service," said Google.
"We’re also launching our integration with Apple Business Manager (formerly DEP) to provide G Suite Enterprise, G Suite Enterprise Essentials, Cloud Identity Premium, and G Suite Enterprise for Education admins the ability to simply and securely distribute and manage company-owned Apple iOS devices."
Second, Google is also introducing another enhancement to its Data Loss Prevention feature that helps prevent unauthorized access to data.
With it, admins can use automated information rights management (IRM) controls to prevent data exfiltration by blocking end users from downloading, printing, or copying Google Drive documents, sheets, and slides that contain sensitive content.
Admins can also run a full scan of all files stored inside Google Drive, and automatically enable these controls for all users.
These features are now available in Beta to G Suite Enterprise, G Suite Enterprise Essentials, and G Suite Enterprise for Education customers.
More additional features include; simpler access to control app, where admins can block apps from accessing G Suite services via API and without having to create allow list for each app.