Google has unveiled a spate of security enhancements to products in its Google Workspace collection including Gmail and Drive. Artificial intelligence is helping to steer some of the changes, automating specific tasks. The upgrades take a new approach, combining the idea of zero trust with the concept of data loss prevention (DLP). Under zero trust, all users, devices and components are considered untrustworthy at all times — even those within an organization’s network. These Workspace tools are in development or at various stages of testing, but Google says they will begin going live in general release later this year and into Q1 2024.

Google Senior Director of Global Risk and Compliance Jeanette Manfra told TechCrunch that bringing zero trust and DLP together will “improve how you classify using AI capabilities within Drive” by “automatically and continuously” classifying and labeling sensitive data, then applying “appropriate risk-based controls.”

Google is adding enhanced DLP controls to Gmail that will let administrators stop users from accidentally attaching sensitive data. If  a customer inadvertently tries to email sensitive data in a customer support email, for instance, admins could “disable download or prevent copy and paste on those documents,” TechCrunch writes.

Another area of focus is location sensitivity with regard to what can be shared. To that end, Google is adding context-aware controls in Drive, allowing admins to set criteria for device location, which if unmet will prevent users from sharing sensitive data.

“‘Sensitive actions’ in your Gmail account will cause a verification box to pop up, which will help ensure the person making the changes is authorized,” ZDNet reports.

Google Workspace Director of Product Management Andy Wen says AI is being employed to help admins parse log data for breaches and behavioral anomalies and can flag suspicious actions in Gmail that could alert a hacker has gained access to the account.

Google is also improving its sovereignty controls for Workspace, helping clients meet regulatory requirements.

In a blog post, Google details how PwC UK used the controls in Workspace with a Gmail pilot that emphasized “the importance of technical data boundaries, not only for PwC and our requirements, but for that of our clients,” according to PwC UK Operations Technology Director Shaun Bookham.

Related:
Google Warns Gmail Users Ahead of New Security Alerts: Set Up 2FA Now, Forbes, 8/27/23