The Hidden Costs of Ignoring Data Loss Prevention in Google Workspace

If your organization is using Google Workspace, then your organization is storing data in the cloud, and most likely, some of that data is highly sensitive. Whether it’s access credentials or financial data, you want to keep that data safe from data breaches, whether accidental or intentional.

However, when it comes to data security, it’s easy to focus on high-profile threat vectors, such as phishing, ransomware, and malware, which can result in financial loss, data loss, or service disruption. While phishing is becoming much more sophisticated and personalized, 68% of data breaches still involve a non-malicious human element.

Organizations may overlook the risk of human error, which continues to play a major role in data leaks and breaches. While an employee may fall victim to a phishing attack or business email compromise (BEC), a security incident could occur from something as innocuous as an error, accidental data sharing, or a neglected software security update.

How Data Loss Prevention can help

While Google Workspace is architected to withstand the modern threat landscape, human error still poses a risk, so your organization’s Data Loss Prevention (DLP) strategy should include the human element.

DLP is a set of tools and processes that help to mitigate the risk of data breaches. It works by identifying sensitive data and then using rules to prevent its unauthorized use or access. DLP is built into Google Workspace and can enhance your organization’s security posture — but it still needs to be set up properly and monitored regularly.

Usually, an IT or Google Workspace admin will define and manage custom DLP rules for sensitive data. Admins can also customize actions if a breach is detected, such as sending an alert or taking remediation actions like blocking shares. They can also enhance DLP with AI-based classification labeling, which can help to improve DLP effectiveness.

In some cases, providing these protections could be mandatory. Many industries have data protection regulations (such as HIPAA and GLBA), while some regions have compliance requirements such as GDPR and CCPA. Failure to comply could result in heavy penalties.

Are you ignoring Data Loss Prevention?

Still, managing a DLP environment can be time-consuming and requires a certain level of experience with the Google Workspace environment, and not every IT team has Google experts on staff.

While your IT team may not be ignoring DLP in Google Workspace, it does take some effort to fully protect your Google Workspace assets by configuring it for your specific requirements. For example, you can use natural language processing (NLP) to understand context and sentiment for document classification. Combining Google Workspace with these types of tools can enhance overall security.

Ignoring data security in Google Workspace can result in hidden costs, such as breaches, accidental data loss, or non-compliance with industry regulations, which in turn can result in financial losses, reputational damage, or even legal repercussions.

Recovering from data loss can be costly. According to IBM’s “Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024,” the average cost of a breach was $4.88 million, including the cost of incident response, data restoration, and notification of affected parties.

Mitigating the risks of a data breach

There are several ways to mitigate these risks, including:

• Create and enforce DLP rules to control data sharing in Google Workspace
• Configure Workspace’s built-in security features to your organization’s needs
• Consider third-party security solutions and services to enhance data protection
• Regularly monitor and audit your IT environment for potential DLP violations
• Provide ongoing training for employees on data security best practices

How a partner can help

If you’re not a Google shop or your team doesn’t have extensive experience in Google Workspace, understanding all of the features in this environment can be challenging. That’s where working with a Google partner can help.

For example, with Pythian’s Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Program, Pythian will assess your current environment and help you design and implement a DLP program to protect sensitive data in Google Workspace through a comprehensive, end-to-end solution.

We’ll provide a thorough assessment of your current DLP status, document and implement data protection requirements, manage the DLP program end-to-end, oversee change management, and deliver training for effective administration and management in Google Workspace. We can even help you understand your DLP ROI.

Find out more about our Data Loss Prevention (DLP) Program.