In today’s society, gradually more businesses and organizations are storing their operations and data in the cloud. Being one of the leading providers, Google Workspace has become the first choice for many businesses and organizations. However, protecting your Google Workspace Admin Console account becomes crucial in this highly cloud-dependent scenario. Once your Google Workspace account is hacked, your organization will face high risks, including leakage of confidential information, employee and customer data breaches, violation of relevant regulations, damage to reputation, and more. Therefore, the security of your Google Workspace Admin Console account is not only a responsibility and obligation but also a necessary measure to maintain the operation of your business. In this article, we will share best practices and techniques that you need to know for your Google Workspace security.
1. For administrators and important users:
Strengthen identity authentication to improve account security
It is recommended that all employees adopt the two-step verification (2SV) mechanism, especially for administrators and users responsible for handling sensitive data such as financial and employee information. If your password is stolen, 2SV can effectively prevent unauthorized persons from accessing your account. Besides providing basic password protection, 2SV can give you an extra layer of security to ensure that your data is safe and reliable online.
After implementing 2SV, users must enter their personal information, such as a password, and possess a credential, such as a physical key or access code in order to further verify their identity. Additionally, we recommend you require administrators and important users to enable two-factor authentication and suggest them use FIDO-supported security keys for authentication. This will help protect your data from unauthorized access and misuse more effectively.
What is two-factor authentication?
Two-factor authentication could further enhance account security by requiring users to verify their identity through two steps before accessing their accounts. The first step is usually entering a password or username, while the second step involves a further verification process to confirm the user’s identity, such as through SMS, authentication apps, or security keys. This increases the difficulty accessing the account even if the password or username is stolen, which increases the security of the account.
What is Google Workspace two-factor authentication?
Before enforcing two-factor authentication, Google Workspace administrators can set up preparatory steps. These steps may include requiring users to provide their phone numbers or backup email addresses, which means that users must fill in this information before enabling two-factor authentication. After the authentication is enforced, the system will require users to undergo it every time they attempt to log in to their Google Workspace accounts. This means that two-factor authentication is required every time a user logs in, increasing the security of the account.
More about Google Workspace: Protect your business with 2-step Verification | Deploy 2-step Verification
2. Add additional super administrator accounts: Prevent single point of failure
We recommend your company create multiple super administrator accounts in Google Workspace, and assign each of them to different users to control. Thus, even though the primary super administrator loses account access or the account is compromised, the backup super administrator can still handle significant tasks during the recovery of the primary account. If additional super administrators are needed, please assign the role of super administrator to other users so as to ensure that management permissions are properly allocated and managed.
What are the permissions of Google Workspace administrators?
Google Workspace super administrators are the highest level users who manage the company’s Google Workspace account. They are responsible for various management operations, including account settings, application management, user account management, and security controls. Super administrators can add, delete, and modify user accounts, authorize or remove access to different applications, and set security and compliance policies, monitor account activity, and create custom reports. Therefore, super administrators should remain highly vigilant to ensure the security and compliance of the account.
More about Google Workspace: How to set users as administrators? |
Differences between different backend management roles.
3. For Super administrator login: Account should not be kept logged in for a long time
When a super administrator account is logged in for an extended period, it is like leaving your front door wide open, not knowing when someone might come in. Therefore, super administrators should only log in when they need to deal with specific tasks and log out immediately after accomplishing their work to ensure the security of the account. It is recommended super administrators use accounts with restricted administrator roles to perform daily management tasks as a way to reduce the risk of being attacked. In addition, super administrators should regularly check account activity logs, and implement other security and compliance measures to guarantee the confidentiality and integrity of company data.
More about Google Workspace: Prebuilt administration roles | Security best practices for administrator accounts
Five-Minute Check! Google Workspace’s Security Checklist
The following are the best practices for Google Workspace and Cloud Identity administrators. Whether you are a small business owner or an IT manager for a large enterprise, Google Workspace offers a range of tailored checklists to help you easily protect your organization’s security and privacy. These best practices cover a multitude of aspects, such as user management, security measures, application settings, troubleshooting, and more, allowing you to manage Google Workspace and Cloud Identity with ease and assure that your accounts and data are well protected.
- For small businesses (1-100 users): Security checklist
- For medium and large businesses (100+ users): Security checklist
