Author Archives: G Suite Updates

Advanced phishing and malware protection for Gmail beta

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘19 in San Francisco. Check out Next OnAir to tune into the livestream or watch session recordings following the event.


What’s changing 

We’re launching a beta program to provide admins with even more controls for advanced anti-phishing and malware protections via the advanced safety settings in Gmail. These build on the advanced protections we announced in 2018. Admins who are part of the beta will have new controls to:

  • Place emails into a quarantine - Route emails that match phishing and malware controls to a new or existing quarantine. This will be available for new and existing controls. 
  • Protect against anomalous attachment types in emails - Identify emails with unusual attachment types and choose to automatically display a warning banner, send them to spam, or quarantine the messages. 
  • Protect your Google Groups from inbound emails spoofing your domain - Identify unauthenticated emails potentially spoofing your domain and choose to automatically display a warning banner, send them to spam, or quarantine the messages. 


In addition to the new controls, we’ll also update the interface to make it easier to see what settings you have applied and understand what actions you’re taking as a result of each control.

Who’s impacted 

Admins only

Why you’d use it 

By adding more specific controls, including the ability to quarantine potentially risky messages, we hope to enable admins to optimize protections for their organization. This will help reduce threats and increase the security of your data while making the experience as simple as possible for your users. 

How to get started 


  • Admins: Find and turn on the beta features at Admin console > Menu > Apps > G Suite > Gmail > Safety. You’ll find new options to turn on anomalous attachment and groups spoofing protections, and see the quarantine option available for all controls. Use our Help Center to learn more about how to enhance phishing and malware protection
  • End users: No action needed 


Additional details 

Place emails into a quarantine 

All the advanced safety settings for Gmail now let you quarantine emails more easily. Choose to move any email that meets certain criteria to a pre-existing quarantine, or create a new quarantine for such messages. Use our Help Center to find out more about email quarantines.



Protect against anomalous attachment types in emails 

Less common file types as email attachments are often used to spread malware. However, different domains might have legitimate uses for uncommon file types. Therefore we’re giving admins more control over how to handle emails with these files attached.

What is identified as an anomalous attachment will be automatically customized for each domain. An intelligent algorithm determines which file types your domain commonly receives and will model the detection based on that. For example, a specific file type may be commonly used on Domain A, but not on Domain B. If both domains had the "Anomalous Attachment" setting enabled, an email with this file type attached would be flagged for Domain B, but not Domain A.

You can see which file types are filtered for your domain by going to the security center’s suspicious attachments chart, filtering by "Anomalous Attachments" and then looking at "Attachment Extensions" (available to G Suite Enterprise and Enterprise for Education domains only).

Admins will be able to:

  • Turn the uncommon attachment type detection on or off. 
  • If turned on, choose whether to keep relevant emails in the user’s inbox with a warning banner displayed, send emails to spam automatically, or move emails to quarantine. 
  • While we expect the anomalous attachment customization described above to work well, if needed admins can whitelist specific uncommon file types they don’t want identified. 

Admin controls for unusual attachment types 


Protect your Groups from inbound emails spoofing your domain

External senders can spoof emails to appear as if they come from your domain, using the same protocols that enable many legitimate systems to send email. This setting extends your options to control potential spoofing emails by preventing spoofed messages from posting to Google Groups on your domain. Use our Help Center to find out more about spoofing. Admins in the beta will be able to:

  • Turn the Groups spoofing protection on or off. 
  • If turned on, choose whether to keep relevant emails in the user’s inbox with a warning banner displayed, send emails to spam automatically, or move emails to quarantine (if available). 
  • Choose whether to apply the settings only to Private Groups (groups with specifically limited membership or intended for organization members only) or All Groups (Private Groups + ones without restricted membership) 

Admin controls for inbound email spoofing protections 

Availability 

Rollout details 



G Suite editions
Controls are available to all G Suite editions. Chart to view affected emails available is part of the security center and so is available to G Suite Enterprise edition only.

On/off by default?
This feature will be OFF by default.

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Better manage threats and collaborate in new security center beta

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘19 in San Francisco. Check out Next OnAir to tune into the livestream or watch session recordings following the event.


What’s changing 

We’re launching a beta program to make it easier to assess your organization’s exposure to security issues and collaborate with colleagues to remediate them. The beta will add features to the G Suite security center which help you:

  • Save and share investigations in the security investigation tool 
  • Create rules within the security center to perform automated actions 

Find out more and sign up for the new security center beta here.

This beta will also allow you to send notifications to the alert center, where teams of admins and analysts can work together to take ownership of alerts and update status as they work through security investigations. For more information on the latest updates to the alert center, see this announcement.

Who’s impacted 

Admins only


Why you’d use it 

The G Suite security center already helps you protect your organization with security analytics and best practice recommendations from Google. It provides a unified security dashboard, a tool to investigate and remediate threats, and more. These features in the beta will make it easier to assess and manage threats by adding automated actions, improved tracking, and more to help your whole team understand and improve your security posture.


How to get started 

Additional details 

Save and share investigations 
We want to make sure admins are able to work together and collaborate to assess their organization’s exposure to security issues. With this beta launch, admins can now save their investigations in the security investigation tool and share them with other admins to improve collaboration.

Create rules and set up automated actions and alerts 
Admins can also create automated rules to perform remediative actions or send notifications to the alert center, where teams of admins and analysts can work together to take ownership of alerts and update status as they work through security investigations.

Helpful links 

Availability 

G Suite editions 
Available to G Suite Enterprise, G Suite Enterprise for Education, and Cloud Identity Premium.
Not available to G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite for Education, and G Suite for Nonprofits.

On/off by default? 
This will be OFF by default and only available to domains that sign up for the beta.


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New alert management and collaboration features in the alert center beta

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘19 in San Francisco. Check out Next OnAir to tune into the livestream or watch session recordings following the event.


What’s changing 


We’re launching a beta for the alert center for G Suite which will enhance the existing alert center and make it easier for admins to manage and collaborate on alerts. Specifically, the beta will mean you’ll be able to:

  • Set status, assignee, and severity of alerts: Add key information to help your team take ownership of, assess, and collaborate as you work through security investigations. 
  • Use a more powerful search: Find alerts more easily by searching for alerts that contain a specific email address. 
  • See related alerts: The alert detail view will show other alerts related to the same actor or user to help discover possible related security incidents. \
  • See alert change history: See the history of metadata or content updates to that alert. This includes when status, assignee, or severities have changed. 

Find out more and sign up for the alert center beta here.

Who’s impacted 

Admins only

Why you’d use it 

The alert center already provides a single place to see notifications about potential issues within your domain, and take action to resolve the issues. We hope the enhancements in this beta will improve collaboration between admins and related teams with status, severity, and assignee information now available. We also hope it will make it easier to find patterns within alerts by adding more specific search capabilities and surfacing related alerts proactively.

How to get started 



Helpful links 




Availability 

G Suite editions 
Available to all G Suite editions.

Beta sign up 
Find out more and sign up for the alert center beta here.

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See info about your contacts easily in Gmail on iOS

What’s changing

To help you find more information about someone you are interacting with on your mobile phone, you can now simply tap on their profile picture in Conversation View on Gmail on iOS to see their contact information in more detail. You’ll be able to see information such as:

  • Their email address
  • Their phone number
  • Interactions such as emails and Calendar invitations

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

Gmail iOS recently launched a brand new mobile redesign, which provided Gmail users with a new look and feel to help you get things done faster. This new redesign also highlights the importance of avatars, and how many users use these to find more information about people they are interacting with.

How to get started


  • Admins: No action required.
  • End users: In Conversation View on Gmail on iOS, simply tap on someone’s profile picture to see their contact information in more detail.

Additional details

If your organization enters information such as office location and reporting chain in users’ profiles, you’ll also be able to see this information when you click on their profile picture.

Pro Tip: if you are trying to find an upcoming meeting with someone in your organization, the Interactions tab will show you upcoming Calendar events too.

Availability

Rollout details

  • Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 4, 2019
  • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 4, 2019

G Suite editions
Available to all G Suite editions

On/off by default?
This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

See OS version for devices with basic mobile management

What’s changing 

Admins will be able to see the operating system (OS) version for devices with basic mobile management. Previously, this information was only available for devices with advanced mobile management.

Who’s impacted 

Admins only

Why you’d use it 

OS version is an important piece of information for assessing device security. This is because devices with older OS versions may not receive all security patches and can be more prone to threats. With visibility into the OS versions used by more devices in your organization, you can better understand potential security vulnerabilities and take actions to make sure devices with access to corporate data are using OS versions you see as appropriate.

How to get started 

  • Admins: To see OS version for basic devices, go to Admin console > Device Management > Devices
  • End users: No action needed. 


Additional details 

Admins will be able to see OS information in several places:

  1. On the devices list page (Admin console > Device Management > Devices) in the OS column. Previously this would have been blank for basic devices. On this page, admins will be able to filter devices with a specific OS to find devices with specific vulnerabilities or see what impact an OS update policy may have. 
  2. In the device detail page for each device. 
  3. In the audit logs at Admin console > Reports > Devices. Note that this is only available to G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, and G Suite Enterprise for Education domains. 


See and filter by OS version in the devices list view 

Helpful links 

Help Center: Set up basic mobile device management 

Availability 

Rollout details 

  • Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 4, 2019. 
  • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 4, 2019. 

G Suite editions 
Available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default? 
This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Stay organized and on-top of conversations with Hangouts Chat improvements

Quick launch summary 

We’re improving the side panel on Hangouts Chat, making it easier to keep track of your chats and stay organized.

In addition to Starred, you’ll now see the following sections in the left-hand side panel: People, Rooms, and Bots, with corresponding chats grouped accordingly. These sections will better organize your chats, making it easy to find specific chats and see where there are items that need attention. This feature will be available across web, desktop, iOS, and Android.


Hangouts Chat on desktop.


Hangouts Chat on Mobile

Availability 

Rollout details 


G Suite editions 

  • Available to all G Suite editions. 

On/off by default? 

  • This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Gmail Smart Compose subject suggestions

What’s changing

Smart Compose can now make suggestions for the subject of your email.

Who’s impacted

End users.

Why you’d use it

Since we announced Gmail Smart Compose in G Suite last year, we’ve seen how Smart Compose suggestions can cut down on the effort it takes for you to write emails and replies. With subject suggestions, Smart Compose can now help you compose your subject line as well.

How to get started


  • Admins: No action required
  • End users: No action is required to begin seeing Smart Compose subject suggestions. When you write the body of your email and then place your cursor in the subject line, you may see Smart Compose suggesting a subject for your email.

Helpful links



Availability

Rollout details


G Suite editions

  • Available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?
Smart Compose subject suggestions is a part of Smart Compose, which is ON by default. Users can individually turn it on/off in their Gmail settings.

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RSVP to Calendar events from forwarded invitations

What’s changing

We're improving how invitation forwarding works in Google Calendar. Now, if guests of a Calendar event have been granted permission to invite others, recipients of forwarded invitation emails can RSVP to the event. This will also then add them to the event as a guest.


Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

With this feature, guests of an event can now simply forward their invitation to allow others to RSVP and be added to the Calendar event. This eliminates the step of having to go into the event in Calendar to invite additional guests.

How to get started

  • Admins: No action required.
  • End users: Simply forward your Calendar invitation to the guest you’d like to add.

Additional details

Please note, for this feature to work, the organizer must have granted permission for guests to add other guests to the event.

Helpful links



Availability

Rollout details


G Suite editions
Available to all G Suite editions

On/off by default?
This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Transition your organization to use only Hangouts Meet for video calls

What’s changing

As part of the migration from classic Hangouts to Hangouts Meet that we announced last year, G Suite admins can now turn off classic Hangouts video calling for your organization. This means that all video calls in your organization will use Meet and any classic Hangouts video calls saved in Google Calendar will be removed.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why you’d use it

Enabling this setting expedites the transition of your organization to Hangouts Meet.

If you take no action, Calendar migration can continue to run and we'll automatically transition your organization to be Meet-only on our recommended schedule.

How to get started


  • Admins: Admins can turn off classic Hangouts video calling in the Admin console by:
    • Navigating to Apps > G Suite > Google Hangouts
    • Click Global settings
    • Next to Hangouts Meet, check All Meetings use Meet
    • Click Save
  • End users: No action required. If your admin decides to enable this setting, classic Hangout video calls will no longer be joinable. Please note, if you’d like to add Hangouts Meet video calls to replace removed classic Hangouts video calls, you must manually add one back into the Calendar event.

Additional details

When this option is turned on:

  • All video calls scheduled in Calendar will use Meet. This does not impact events scheduled by someone outside of your organization.
  • Any classic Hangouts video call URLs scheduled in Calendar will be hidden.
  • Classic Hangouts video calls scheduled within your organization will no longer be joinable and users will see an error message. Classic Hangouts video calls scheduled by someone outside of your organization will still be joinable.
  • You can use a custom meeting name to start an ad-hoc Meet call. Simply agree on a meeting name with all of the meeting participants and type it into the “Enter meeting code” field in Meet. Note that all participants must be in the same domain to use the name.

Please note, this change does not impact video calling from Hangouts Chat or classic Hangouts chat. This will continue to behave the same. Additionally, this change will not impact domains who do not have Meet turned on.

Admins should only enable this option if your organization is primarily on Meet with limited to no classic Hangout video calls scheduled in Calendar. You can check the usage stats for scheduled Calendar events using classic Hangouts video calling by using the Hangouts Meet audit log. To do so, query the number of calls containing a “Calendar Event Id” with “Product type” equal to classic Hangouts.

Finally, this setting is reversible. Unselecting this in the Admin console means that classic Hangouts video calls will again be shown in Calendar.


Helpful links

Help Center: Migration FAQs

Availability

Rollout details
Rapid Release domains and Scheduled Release domains: Admin console setting is currently available.

G Suite editions
Available to all G Suite editions

On/off by default?
This setting will be OFF by default for existing customers and ON by default for new customers

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Quickly find support resources in Gmail, Docs, Drive, Calendar and more

What’s changing 

We’re making support and learning resources easier to find in several G Suite apps. We’re doing this by adding a new quick-access button to some products, and changing the Help menu options in others. Specifically, you’ll see:

A new button in Gmail, Calendar, and Drive: A new ‘?’ support button next to the search bar at the top of Gmail, Calendar, and Drive on the web will provide quick access to a range of help and support content.

New menu options in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides: The Help menu in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides will have "Training" and "Updates" options added.

After this launch, users in all of these products will now have quick access to:

  • Help: Which links to the relevant product Help Center
  • Training: Which links to the relevant product Learning Center
  • Updates: Info about recent product updates. 
  • Send feedback: Lets users provide direct product feedback. 

Who’s impacted 

End users

Why you’d use it 

We create and maintain a lot of resources, which can help users be more productive in G Suite. By making these resources easier to find, we hope users will be able to find answers to questions, discover new ways to work more efficiently, and see new features and product enhancements that will expand how they can use the products.

How to get started 


  • Admins: No action needed. 
  • End users: 
    • In Gmail, Calendar, and Drive, access the ‘?’ support button next to the search bar (see image below.)
    • In any Docs, Sheets, or Slides file, access the Help menu for the new Training and Updates option (see image below). 
In Gmail, access the “?” support button next to the search bar will now feature Training and Updates as options in addition to Help.


A new support icon in Gmail, Calendar, and Drive.
In the Help menu, users now have the option to select Training and Updates to learn more when using Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
New options in the Help menu of Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

Helpful links 

Google Help Centers 
Google learning center 


Availability 

Rollout details 


G Suite editions 

  • Available to all G Suite editions. 
On/off by default? 

  • This feature will be ON by default. 


Stay up to date with G Suite launches