Tag Archives: Admin Console

Gmail data loss prevention now supports “sensitive content snippets”

What’s changing

We recently launched data loss prevention for Gmail and, beginning today, Admins can see “Sensitive content snippets” for Gmail messages that trigger data loss prevention rules. This content is logged  in the security investigation tool and admins can use the information to better identify security risks, determine whether a false positive was returned, and decide on an appropriate course of action.

Snippets are already available for DLP events for Drive, Chat, and Chrome. Visit our Help Center and our previous announcement for more information.

Matched content and information about the data detector type is displayed in the side panel under ‘Log Details’ in the Security Investigation Tool

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

Available to Google Workspace 
  • Frontline Standard
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus 
  • Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, and the Teaching and Learning add-on
  • Enterprise Essentials Plus
  • Also available for Chrome Enterprise Premium

Resources


Beta update: Data loss prevention rules based on classification labels are now applied instantly in Gmail on the web

What’s changing

In November 2024, we announced an open beta for data classification labels in Gmail. To further enhance the experience, we’re pleased to announce that auto-classification labeling with data loss prevention (DLP) rules and actions triggered by classification labels detected in the message will now be applied instantly when using Gmail on the web. Previously, users were informed of any implications after messages left the inbox. With this update, the feedback is instant, providing the opportunity to educate users on why their message is classified, blocked or quarantined, and how to remedy the issue to keep their email communications flowing. 

With this new functionality, and with this feature still in an open beta period, we strongly encourage you to continue providing feedback so we can optimize the feature for general availability. You can also use the form to sign-up for feedback sessions with the Google user research team to provide more detailed feedback.




Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why it matters
Google Workspace's expansion of data classification labels to Gmail gives admins the ability to mitigate data exfiltration and gain a deeper understanding of shared data based on information type and sensitivity level to apply data protection policies appropriately. Some ways you can use Data Protection Rules with Classification Labels are:

    • Prevent messages based on a specific classification (e.g. Confidential, Internal, NTK) from being accidentally shared with unauthorized users.
      • You can create a rule with specific label(s) as a condition and choose an action to trigger when a message is sent:
        • Warn: users will see a notification that their message may contain sensitive information, helping to prevent accidental sharing. Note that this action does not block the message from being sent.
        • Block: users will be notified that their message will not be sent unless the label is changed or removed (if data organization policy allows).
        • You can also create a rule in a way that allows for sharing labeled messages only if confidential mode is enabled for the message.

    • Enforce classification on every message or specific messages
      • You can create a rule that warns users or blocks the message if a specific classification label is not found in the message. This can help educate users and drive adoption of your organization’s data classification policy among users.
    • Automatically apply classification labels messages if specific information types are found in the message
      • You can create a rule to automatically apply a specific classification label if certain criteria is met. For example, credit card information or medical information are contained within the email. 
      • You can also configure the rule to allow users to modify the label to a more appropriate one based on the situation and data classification policy of your organization.
    For more detailed information, please refer to our beta announcement as well as our Help Center.


    Additional details

    At this time, this update is only supported when using Gmail on the web. Stay tuned for further updates about instantaneous support in Gmail iOS and Android clients.

    Getting started

    Rollout pace

    Availability

    The Label Manager and manual classification is available to Google Workspace:
    • Frontline Starter and Standard
    • Business Standard and Plus
    • Enterprise Standard and Plus
    • Education Standard and Education Plus
    • Essentials, Enterprise Essentials, and Enterprise Essentials Plus


    Data loss prevention rules with labels as a condition or labels as an action are available to:
    • Enterprise Standard and Plus
    • Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, and the Teaching & Learning Upgrade
    • Frontline Standard
    • Cloud Identity Premium (with a Workspace Edition that includes Gmail)

    Resources



    Available in beta: Convert your client-side encrypted documents after a Vault or Takeout export

    What’s changing 

    After a Vault or Data export (takeout), admins can now convert their exported client-side encrypted documents to Word files. This allows organizations to maintain ownership over, access to, and analysis of sensitive data in a portable format even after it has been exported from Google Workspace. 


    Eligible Google Workspace admins can use this form to request access to the beta. We’ll share more specific instructions once you’re accepted into the beta.



    Getting started

    • Admins: Client-side encryption can be enabled at the domain, OU, and Group levels (Admin console > Data > Compliance > Client-side encryption). Visit our Help Center to learn more about client-side encryption.

    Rollout pace

    • The feature will be available immediately once you're accepted into the beta.

    Availability

    • Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard and Education Plus customers.

    Resources


    Consent re-confirmation for under 18 users accessing Additional Services will soon be required

    What’s changing

    When a Google Workspace for Education admin chooses to enable Additional Services for students under the age of 18 to use, they acknowledge that they may be required to collect parental or guardian consent. This includes access to services like YouTube, Google Translate, Google Photos, Google Books, Google Earth and more.

    In September 2024, we communicated that we now require admins who have Additional Services enabled for users under the age of 18 to re-review them on an annual basis. Admins are always in control of which services their users have access to, and this gives admins an opportunity to ensure the right users have access to the right services.

    • If admins do not want to provide access to Additional Services for their under 18 users, they can turn them off for those users. 
    • If admins want to keep Additional services enabled for under 18 users, they need to reconfirm parental consent in the admin console.  
    • If admins do not take action, under 18 users who previously had access to Additional Services will lose access in the coming weeks. Admins can re-enable access to Additional Services at any time. 

    How admins can take action
    Admins were first provided notice of this re-confirmation requirement in September 2024, which indicated a 6 months notice to complete the re-review process before the March 2025 rollout. The banner in the admin console has turned red to alert admins that action is required. While the rollout begins in March, it might take several weeks before some users in your organization are impacted.

    You can easily view which applications require consent reconfirmation from Admin console > Apps > Additional Google services. You can re-confirm consent by checking the box next to the app, hovering over the app, or using the three-dot overflow menu. 

    Experience for impacted end users
    If users lose access to a specific service they’ll be notified “Your Google Workspace for Education account is designated as under 18 and your organization’s admin has not granted you access to this Additional Service. To regain access, inform your admin that you need this service to be enabled.“ 



    Who’s impacted

    Admins and end users under the age of 18


    Why it’s important

    Admins are in control of which services their users have access to, and to do so in alignment with both our terms of service and local laws and regulations that determine what services are appropriate for users under 18. Since admins manage which services their students have access to, only they can enable or disable access for their under 18 users. 


    This is a guide to support admins with collecting consent from parents, which includes this template for communicating with parents and guardians around collecting consent. 

    Additional details

    The requirement to review and re-confirm access to Additional Products is an annual requirement customers must complete for their under 18 users, subject to their Google Workspace for Education Terms of Service. 

    Getting started


    Rollout pace


    Availability

    This change impacts Google Workspace:
    • Education Fundamentals, Standard, and Plus

    Resources




    New Chat Usage Analytics Updates for Admins and Developers

    What’s changing 

    In December 2024, we introduced new, detailed usage reports for Google Chat. These reports help admins better understand how their teams are using Chat, allowing them to analyze engagement, drive adoption, configure safety features, and more. These reports aggregate data at the group and organization level, to provide relevant insights for Workspace admins while protecting individual privacy. 

    Starting today, customerUsageReports.get and userUsageReports.get for Google Chat are available via the Admin SDK Reports API for customers to use in their own customized dashboards and reporting tools. This gives admins more ways to analyze Chat usage data.


    Please refer to the table below to learn about the metrics available to you:

    Category

    Variations

    # of messages sent by users of the organization

    Total number of messages

    Messages sent by conversation type (direct message, group chat, space)

    Messages sent by type (regular, voice, video, huddle)

    Messages sent with or without attachment

    Messages sent to conversations that contain or do not contain external users.

    # of spaces owned by organization

    Number of active spaces

    Number of spaces created

    # of active users in your organization by level of activity

    Number of engaged users (read at least one conversation or sent messages or reactions)


    Number of communicator users (sent at least one message or reaction)

    # of actions by specific users*

    Number of messages and reactions sent


    Number of attachments uploaded


    Number of spaces created


    Number of conversations read

    Most metrics are available for periods of 1, 7, and 28 days.
    *Available for 28 days only

    Additional details

    We’ve also added four new fields and one additional event available in Chat Audit Logs and surfaced in the Security Investigation Tool. In addition to providing even more context on Chat usage, admins can leverage these additional data points in their own custom reporting.


    The fields are:
    Conversation ownership indicates whether the conversation, where a specific Chat event occurs, is owned by the organization or by an external entity. These possible values include:
    • Internally owned: conversation is owned by the admin’s organization
    • Externally owned: conversation is owned by an external entity

    Conversation type indicates the type of conversation where the event occurs:
    • User-to-user direct message
    • User-to-app direct message
    • Group chat
    • Space

    Message type indicates type of the message in Message sent and Message edited events:
    • Regular message
    • Voice message
    • Video message
    • Huddle

    Attachment status indicates whether the message was sent with an attachment (image or file):
    • Has attachment
    • No attachment

    Additionally, we’ve added a new event, “Conversation Read”. Every time a user opens a conversation and reads one or more unread messages, an event will be logged.

    Getting started



    Rollout pace


    Availability

    • New Chat usage metrics in Report API  are available for all Google Workspace customers.
    • The security investigation tool is available for Google Workspace
      • Enterprise Standard and Plus
      • Education Standard and Plus
      • Enterprise Essentials Plus
      • Frontline Standard
      • And Cloud Identity Premium customers

    Workspace data loss protection (DLP) for Gmail is now generally available

    What’s changing 

    A big threat organizations must prepare for is the risk of data exfiltration through unwanted and/or unauthorized means. Whether it’s small-scale, unintended sharing, or a larger breach scenario, organizations need powerful defenses to protect themselves from these risks. To that end, we’re pleased to announce that today Data Loss Prevention (DLP) is generally available in Gmail, alongside Drive and Chat.

    DLP is one of the most powerful ways organizations can protect themselves from these risks. With DLP capabilities in Gmail, organizations can identify, monitor, and control the sharing of sensitive data. It works through a series of easy to apply data protection rules that can be implemented to instantly detect sensitive content in outgoing messages, including body content, attachments, headers, and subject lines. 


    Additional details

    How does DLP in Gmail compare to Content Compliance rules?
    To prevent the exfiltration of sensitive data from Gmail, data protection rules with DLP are recommended. These rules offer a rich set of predefined detectors and the ability to build flexible conditions. 


    Additionally, organizations can tailor warning messages based on their organization's data governance requirements, terminology, and processes; these messages will help educate users on their organization's specific security and data protection policies to prevent sharing sensitive content.


    Other features, such as content compliance, can still be used for different purposes, like evaluating inbound messages and routing them internally to relevant departments.


    For more information, please refer to our initial open beta announcement.


    DLP within the Google Workspace ecosystem
    As part of Google Workspace ecosystem, DLP for Gmail comes with capabilities available across other applications, such as Drive and Chat, so admins can configure, implement and investigate Data Loss Prevention incidents using unified tools, such as Security Investigation Tool, or build custom dashboards using unified audit logs or export to BigQuery. 


    Taken together, DLP capabilities across Workspace provide powerful protections for organizations to reduce the risk of data breaches, comply with regulatory requirements, and protect their reputation and intellectual property.


    Getting started

    • Admins: 
      • Data loss prevention rules can be configured at the domain, OU, or group level. DLP rules can be enabled in Gmail in the Admin console under Security > Access and data control > Data protection. Visit the Help Center to learn more about controlling sensitive data shared in Gmail. Note that you can modify existing DLP rules for Drive and Chat to also apply to Gmail. 
      • DLP events can be reviewed in the Security Investigation Tool or Security > Alert Center, if alerts are configured in rules.
      • With DLP for Gmail, data protection rules can be scanned synchronously or asynchronously. Visit our Help Center for more information.
      • For new rules, we recommend starting with “Audit only” mode. This allows you to thoroughly test and monitor the rule's performance and ensure it correctly identifies the intended data without interrupting email flow for users. Once you've validated the rule's behavior and are confident in its accuracy, you can then implement actions such as blocking or warning users as needed.

    • End users: Depending on your admin configuration, you’ll be notified if your message contains information that violates DLP rules.

    Rollout pace


    Availability

    Available to Google Workspace:
    • Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus
    • Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, and the Teaching & Learning add-on
    • Frontline Standard
    • Cloud Identity Premium customers

    Google Vault now supports the Gemini app

    What’s changing 

    Google Vault now supports the Gemini app (on web and mobile). Going forward, admins can use Vault for eDiscovery tasks to search Gemini app conversations and create an export of your search results. Specifically, the following actions can be taken around Gemini app data: 

    • Search prompts and responses with a number of filters, such as user and date to quickly refine your search. These searches can be across groups of users or by Organizational Units (OUs) up to 5000 in size. 
    • Export conversations in an XML format for the above searches via the UI or API.


    Who’s impacted

    Admins

    Why it’s important

    Vault is an eDiscovery and information governance tool for Google Workspace, which enables customers to retain, hold, search, and export users’ Google Workspace data. With this update, customers can now expand their regulatory and legal eDiscovery needs to include the Gemini app. This integration makes it easier for customers to comply with their eDiscovery obligations surrounding Gemini collaborative data, all from a central tool. 

    Additionally, Vault’s integration with Gemini rounds out support for critical Workspace apps such as Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Chat, Calendar and Meet, providing customers with a consistent experience across all products that are managed within Vault for eDiscovery. Additional information governance and hold features, such as preview, retention, and litigation holds will follow in future releases. We’ll share more information on the Workspace updates blog when it’s available.

    Additional details

    This update is not applicable for Gemini for Google Workspace, as no prompts or responses are retained for those interactions. Visit our Privacy Hub for more information on how we’re protecting your Google Workspace data in the era of generative AI.

    Getting started


    Rollout pace


    Availability

    Available to Google Workspace
    • Business Plus
    • Enterprise Essentials and Enterprise Essentials Plus
    • Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus
    • Education Standard and Education Plus customers
    • Also available to customers with the Vault add-on license

    Resources

    Now generally available: Easily migrate files from Microsoft OneDrive to Google Drive

    What’s changing

    In October 2024, we expanded our data migration services to include the ability for Admins to transfer OneDrive data to Google Drive. This functionality is now generally available. You can migrate the files of up to 100 users at a time, including the files corresponding access permissions with shared members. 

    With the general availability release, we’ve also added additional settings which admins can use to: 
    • Specify files to migrate within a certain date range.
    • Exclude specific file formats and large files. 
    • Skip uploading an identity map and allow Google to automatically map source and target users instead. 

    Now that the tool is generally available, with more customization settings, you can quickly and easily migrate your data to Workspace at scale while minimizing disruption for end users. For more information, please refer to our original beta announcement.

    Example of a completed migration.


    Getting started


    Rollout pace


    Availability

    Available to Google Workspace 
    • Business Starter, Standard, and Plus
    • Enterprise Standard and Plus
    • Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, and the Teaching and Learning add-on
    • Essentials Starter and Essentials
    • Enterprise Essentials and Enterprise Essentials Plus
    • Nonprofits

    Resources


    More options now available to customize digital signage on your Google Meet hardware

    What’s changing 

    In the coming weeks, admins will be able to use their Comeen or StratosMedia digital signage content on their Google Meet hardware devices. We know many of our customers use these tools for general digital signage needs within their organization and this update allows that content to be leveraged as screensavers across your Google Meet hardware fleet.

    The Google Meet hardware ‘Screen Saver’  setting is located in the admin console under Devices > Google Meet hardware > Settings > Device settings



    Additional details

    • Note that Comeen and StratosMedia are paid services and there may be additional costs associated with registering your devices on their platform. 
    • In some cases, this feature can conflict with the power-saving feature on your Meet hardware devices. To ensure that your custom screen saver is visible, be sure to set displays as active during working hours in the organizational unit you’re targeting. 
    • Screen savers are not interactive—tapping your touch controller or using the remote will cause the screen saver to be dismissed, and the device will return to displaying the agenda on the homepage. 

    Getting started

    • Admins: Custom screen savers are opt-in and managed at the OU-level and apply to all devices in that organizational unit (OU). Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to display custom screen saver images.
    Rollout pace

    Availability

    • Available to all Google Workspace customers

    Resources


    Better understand app access with the new Access Evaluation log event

    What’s changing 

    We’re introducing a new log event, Access Evaluation, which will help admins better understand how security policies affect their users' access to OAuth apps. This includes settings and policies such as API controls, endpoint management configurations, domain wide delegation and more. The log contains information on the specific policies applied, when access was granted and the reasoning. Admins can use this information to review their security policies and revise them as needed to protect the sharing of Workspace data with users' apps.

    Example of an Access Evaluation log


    Getting started

    • Admins: Access Evaluation are available in the audit and investigation tool (Menu > Reporting > Audit and investigation > Access Evaluation log events), and the security investigation tool (Menu > Security > Security center > Investigation tool > Data source > Access Evaluation log events)  for specific Google Workspace editions. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Access Evaluation log events. 
    • End users: There is no end user impact or action required.

    Rollout pace


    Availability

    • Available in the audit and investigation tool for all Google Workspace customers.
    • Available in the security investigation tool for Google Workspace:
      • Frontline Standard
      • Enterprise Standard and Plus
      • Education Standard and Plus
      • Enterprise Essentials Plus
      • Cloud Identity Premium

    Resources