Visibility and control is crucial to protecting your company’s sensitive assets and should be top of mind in today’s world.  Working to improve the security of the G Suite environment, Google has announced it’s newest tier of G Suite, aimed directly at customers who require stronger levels of security controls and insight.  Called G Suite Enterprise Edition, you’ll get access to controls like:

• More powerful access control for administrators with security key enforcement
• More data control with Data Loss Prevention (DLP) for Google Drive, DLP for Dmail, and S/MIME for Gmail.
• More analytics and insights by connecting BigQuery with Gmail

Let’s take a deeper look at what some of these new features mean, and how it can benefit you by switching to G Suite Enterprise Edition:

Manage Access

Security Key Enforcement is a step up from their 2-step verification system that’s been hugely successful in providing added security and in development since 2011.  They’ve since introduced the usage of Security Keys, which are either plugged in via USB or via Bluetooth / NFC connections on your device.

The reasoning behind this was simple; giving admins the ability to distribute keys specifically tied to a user is far less prone to phishing attacks than standard 2-step verification methods.  This, in turn, drastically reduces the chances of data loss or sensitive information / Intellectual Property from getting into the wrong hands.

Google has expanded that level of control for admins by adding the ability to enforce Security Keys to be used on a particular device, and can restrict access to all other sources.  Additionally; Admins are now able to manage the deployment of their Security Keys and view usage reports from the dashboard.

More Controls for How Data is Shared

Data Loss Prevention is now active for Google Drive.  Google first launched DLP for Gmail back in 2015 with OCR Image Scan Recognition, advanced customization and easy-to-set-up-rules.  Google has officially announced that it’s expanding that existing functionality to Drive.  Now, it’s even easier for admins to secure sensitive data, control what content can be stored and also protect users from accidentally sharing confidential information with external parties. G Suite’s DLP protection goes beyond standard DLP with easy-to-configure rules and OCR recognition of content stored in images so admins can easily enforce policies and control how data is shared.

The system can easily detect sensitive data and apply rules to alert admins or prevent sharing.  For example; it’s easy to set up rules preconfigured for protecting the most common scenarios like social security and credit card numbers.  The algorithms also apply to images with Google’s OCR technology, giving you the security you need to prevent sensitive information from accidentally being sent.

Encryption is also top of mind for security professionals, and that’s why S/MIME for Gmail is being brought on board.  You now have the option to bring your own certificates for S/MIME encryption.  Administrators will also be able to enforce its usage and can set up DLP rules based on specific organizational needs.

Understanding Behavior and Activity

Gmail Logs now support BigQuery Integration which helps administrators unlock valuable information to help diagnose issues or unlock new insights into user activity.  The preconfigured integration makes it so that admins can run sophisticated, high-functioning queries, analyse their data and build custom dashboards:

In addition to its native Google Vault offering, G Suite Enterprise also now supports third-party SMTP Email archiving solutions if you prefer to use other solutions.  Now, with third party integrations, they’re making it simple for you to adapt whatever solution you’d prefer with G Suite Enterprise.

Do I Need to Upgrade to G Suite Enterprise?

For most companies, G Suite Business at £6.60 /  user /  month will provide more than enough security, privacy and data controls.  If, however, you’re looking for a more granular, secured environment and need DLP Solutions, advanced security controls, advanced reporting and expanded integration options, then G Suite Enterprise is a sound investment, and the £250 / user / year price point (estimated) makes it a compelling value add to your business.

Whether you’re an existing Google customer and want to talk about your options for upgrading to G Suite Enterprise or you’re a new customer looking for more information about what other benefits you could realize with the Google Cloud, we’d love to have you