The Role of Google Workspace Admins in Strengthening Security: A Checklist for 2025

More than four in five security decision-makers acknowledge the need to improve security measures, according to a recent Google Workspace report. While more than two-thirds of organizations are investing more time and money than ever in securing their environments, “they’re still experiencing a barrage of costly incidents.”

Why? They need to “move away from outdated solutions and approaches that were designed for the desktop era” and instead embrace secure-by-design solutions that address modern threats, according to the report.

Google Workspace takes this secure-by-design approach by embedding security throughout its product suite to nullify vulnerabilities. For example, Gmail uses the power of AI to block more than 99.9% of spam, phishing attempts, and malware from reaching employees’ inboxes.

While Google Workspace offers a range of built-in security features, admins play a key role in ensuring those features are configured properly. After all, even a tiny misconfiguration can lead to a big data breach.

Here’s a checklist of considerations for strengthening security in your Google Workspace environment.

Start with a security audit: Resolving any gaps in security means understanding what those gaps are. A security audit should be done/completed at least annually, though in some industries it may make sense to have a semi-annual or even quarterly audit. This involves auditing security configurations such as access controls, user permissions, and file-sharing settings — and ensuring you’re in compliance with any regulatory requirements in your particular industry.

Checklist:

• Audit access controls, user permissions, and file-sharing settings
• Ensure compliance with industry regulations
• Strengthen default security settings for your organization’s needs
• Set real-time alerts for policy violations
• Schedule regular audits, monitoring, and remediation

Pro tip:

Many Workspace security settings are enabled by default, but the default isn’t always enough. Customize your configurations based on the sensitivity of your data and the structure of your teams.

Safeguard sensitive data: Data Loss Prevention (DLP) helps to prevent data loss or exposure of sensitive data. This is a feature in Google Workspace that needs to be configured by the admin; it’s not enabled by default. It’s also important to restrict public sharing and limit organization-wide sharing for certain data assets. 

Checklist:

• Set up DLP rules to detect and protect sensitive data
• Restrict public and organization-wide sharing of key data assets
• Disable file copying or downloading for sensitive documents
• Regularly review DLP incident reports and address unauthorized sharing
  
  

Pro tip:
With AI assistants like Gemini pulling from shared data, it’s more important than ever to carefully manage sharing permissions.

Protect against social engineering: Email continues to be one of the top attack vectors for phishing and other social engineering attacks. Google Workspace comes with automatic detection of phishing links and suspicious attachments, but you can also adjust settings in Gmail.

Checklist:

• Train employees to spot and report phishing attempts
• Establish clear reporting procedures for suspicious emails
• Set up Gmail alerts for external auto-forwarding and other red flags
• Implement a DMARC policy to prevent domain spoofing

Pro tip:

Technology can block most attacks — but your people are the last line of defense. When choosing a partner, look for one who not only secures your Google Workspace but also empowers your teams by showing them what was done and why. Knowledge strengthens security.

Secure identity management: Identity authentication is a critical component in securing your Google Workspace environment. One way to do this is by enabling multi-factor authentication (MFA), which requires users to provide at least one additional form of verification (along with their password) to log in.

Checklist:

• Enforce strong password policies across your organization
• Require MFA using security keys or authenticator apps
• Regularly audit login activity for unusual behavior
• Explore a Zero Trust approach that continuously verifies users

Pro Tip:

Passwords alone aren't enough. Enforce multi-factor authentication across your organization — and consider using security keys for your most sensitive accounts for even stronger protection.

Review third-party apps: Third-party apps often ‘request’ a broad level of access to your environment, which can pose a security risk. For example, a third-party app could create a backdoor that could then be exploited by cyber attackers.

Checklist:

• Create policies for approving third-party app access
• Regularly review apps installed by users
• Block apps that request excessive permissions
• Use tools like GAT+ for automated third-party app management

Pro tip:

Review app permissions regularly — especially when employees leave or change roles.

Keep configurations up to date: This can be a big challenge, since Google Workspace has a wide range of settings for different users and user groups — not to mention regular updates and new feature releases (which could create conflicts with existing configurations). However, a misconfiguration or outdated configuration could lead to a security breach, such as unauthorized access in Google Meet.

Checklist:

• Monitor security configurations regularly
• Update settings to align with current compliance frameworks
• Use automated management tools to streamline updates
• Test new feature rollouts for potential conflicts with existing configurations

Pro tip:
Misconfigurations are a leading cause of cloud data breaches — but they’re also highly preventable with proactive management.

Stronger security starts with the right partner

Google Workspace has a strong suite of security features. But do you know if you’re taking advantage of all of those features? Are they configured properly? Not every IT team has expertise in the Google environment, which is where a Google partner like Pythian can help, especially if your team is new to Google Workspace.

For example, Pythian’s Security Posture Analysis for Google Workspace can help your team gain a better understanding of your risk exposures in an 8-to-10-week engagement. This includes a thorough analysis of your security settings and policies, detailed reports and analysis on all critical data within Google Workspace, and a series of workshops to review the analysis, risk exposures, and recommended risk management tactics specific to your organization.

Getting the most out of your cloud computing environment often requires a partner by your side. Contact us to find out how we can help you secure your Workspace environment and get the most out of your productivity tools.