Google introduces G Suite for Enterprise w/ security controls and data-loss prevention for Drive

Millions of businesses pay for Google’s G Suite each month, and for good reason ─ Google’s collection of productivity apps are excellent. Today, the company is enhancing G Suite with G Suite Enterprise Edition and several new security and management features.

G Suite, or as it was previously known, Google Apps, includes access to services like Gmail, Google Drive, Docs/Sheets/Slides, Google Forms, Google Calendar, and Google Sites, among other services.

The package is aimed at businesses, but is also commonly used for Education, Government, and even non-profits. With the new Enterprise tier, Google brings all of the great services from other tiers, along with features like data-loss prevention (DLP), improved group management, and encryption features.

DLP isn’t anything new for Google, as it’s also included in Gmail for G Suite Education users. However, in this new Enterprise tier, we’re seeing it used for the first time in Google Drive. Google explains that DLP in Drive makes it “even easier for admins to secure sensitive data, control what content can be stored and protect users from accidentally sharing confidential information externally.”

G Suite’s DLP protection goes beyond standard DLP with easy-to-configure rules and OCR for content stored in images so admins can easily enforce policies and control how data is shared.”

For Gmail security, G Suite now offers S/MIME encryption which allows the organization to bring its own certificates along. Admins can also enforce encryption usage based on organizational rules. Along with that, users can analyze Gmail logs “with a preconfigured BigQuery integration so administrators can run sophisticated, high-performing custom queries, analyze their data and build custom dashboards.” Third-party email archiving solutions are also now easier to integrate with Gmail thanks to today’s updates.

G Suite’s Enterprise tier also makes it possible for organizations to force two-step authentication on group members, either via traditional methods or via the more secure Bluetooth or NFC keys which are available. Admins can even restrict users solely to security key-based logins as well as managing the deployment of those keys along with usage reports.

More information regarding these new updates is available via Google’s blog post and all changes are available today.