Improved and updated security menu in the Admin Console
- Adding navigation access to security features previously only accessible from the Security settings page.
- Adding Authentication, Access & data controls, and Security center subcategories making it easier to find the features available.
- Updating the name of the Security Settings page to Overview.
- 2-step verification
- Account recovery
- Advanced Protection Program
- Login challenges
- Password management
- SSO with SAML applications
- SSO with third party IdP
- API controls
- Client-side encryption
- Context-Aware Access
- Data protection
- Google Session control
- Google Cloud session control
- Less secure apps
- Dashboard
- Investigation tool
- Security health
- Admins: This update will be available automatically.
- End users: There is no end user impact or action required.
- Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 28, 2021
- Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
- Google Workspace Admin Help: Security and Data Protection
- Google Workspace Admin Help: View Alert Center notifications directly from the Admin console toolbar
- Google Workspace Updates Blog: One-click recommended actions in the Alert Center
- Google Workspace Updates Blog: Updated design for the Admin console home page
- Google Workspace Updates Blog: Easily navigate through the Admin console using the updated left-hand navigation bar
- Google Workspace Updates Blog: New streamlined experience for managing users and domains in the Admin console
VirusTotal integration with the security investigation tool provides deeper insight into Gmail events
Earlier this year, we announced an integration between VirusTotal and the Alert Center, giving admins the ability to look into security alerts at a deeper level. Beginning today, admins can also use the Security Investigation tool to view VirusTotal reports to gain richer information regarding Gmail event logs and use that information to make more informed decisions on protecting their users and data.
The Standard version of VirusTotal reports includes the following:
- File identification: Identifiers and characteristics allowing you to reference the threat and share it with other analysts (file hashes, file type, size, etc).
- Threat reputation: Maliciousness assessments coming from 70+ security vendors.
- Threat time spread: Key dates that enable you to understand when a given threat was first observed in-the-wild and how long it’s been active.
- Multi-angular detection: Additional threat analysis coming from crowdsourced rule matches and community scoring (for example: YARA, Sigma, and IDS rules).
- Allowlist information: Useful details to power false positive discarding (National Software Reference Library, Software Distributors, Microsoft Clean Metadata Feed, etc.).
- Related indicators of compromise (IOCs): Examples of IOCs include a network infrastructure distributing a malware file, servers acting as a command-and-control for a given threat, first-stage delivery vectors for a file being studied, etc.
- Interactive threat graph: Graphical format that maps out entire threat campaigns by visualizing the relationships between IOCs.
- Security-relevant metadata: Includes software publisher information, identification of malicious macros in documents, Android application permissions, etc.
- In-the-wild details: Geographical and time-spread details for threats, common attacker deception techniques, and more, through VirusTotal submission metadata.
- Suspicious attribute pivoting: Clickable details in VirusTotal reports, allowing you to explore the global VirusTotal dataset for other threats that share the same properties.
- Admins: VirusTotal reports are available to administrators who have access to the security investigation too. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using VirusTotal reports in the security investigation tool.
- End users: There is no end user impact.
- Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 28, 2021
- Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers
- Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
Manage and share private iOS apps through Google Endpoint Management
- Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing private iOS apps.
- End users: You can install private iOS apps for your organization on your iOS device using the Google Device Policy app. Note: Private apps are not available in the iOS app store.
- Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 26, 2021
- Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus, and Cloud Identity Premium customers.
- Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
Enhanced menus in Google Sheets improves findability of key features
We’re updating the menus in Google Sheets to make it easier to locate the most commonly-used features.
In this update:
- The menu bar and right-click menus have been shortened to better fit your screen to prevent menus from being hidden off screen
- Some features were reorganized and added to more intuitive locations (for example, you can now freeze a row or column from the right-click menu)
- Some descriptions of items in the menu are shorter, enabling faster recognition
- Icons have been added to help you locate features more easily
- Changes are across all menus, including File, Edit, View, Insert, Format, Date, Tools, Extensions, Help, and Accessibility.
End users
The new design improves findability of key features, making it quicker and easier to use Sheets, especially on devices with smaller screens.
Some of your favorite menu items may have moved a little, but all existing functionality is still available. We hope that their new home will be more intuitive and make it easier and faster to navigate the product.
- Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
- End users: This feature will be ON by default and cannot be disabled. Use the menus as you would regularly and enjoy the new look and feel. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Google Sheets
- Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 26, 2021
- Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers. Also available to users with personal Google Accounts
Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - October 22, 2021
Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are fully launched or in the process of rolling out (rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete), launching to both Rapid and Scheduled Release at the same time (if not, each stage of rollout should take no more than 15 business days to complete), and available to all Google Workspace and G Suite customers.
Drive for desktop support for Apple silicon (M1) devices now generally available
Earlier this year, we added Drive for desktop support for Apple Silicon (M1) devices in beta. Since then, we’ve been making improvements to the functionality, and it is now generally available. Learn more in the Google Drive for desktop release notes. |Available to all Google Workspace customers, and G Suite Basic and Business customers. Also available to users with personal Google accounts | Learn more.
The announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details.
View more information about your colleagues and stakeholders in Google Contacts
Google Contacts will include additional information about people in your organization such as: working hours, non-manager relationships, shared files, and more. | Learn more.
Control session length for Google Cloud Console and gcloud CLI now generally available
In 2019, we announced a beta that allows Google Workspace, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Cloud Identity admins to set a fixed session duration for specific apps and services. This is now generally available. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers, and Google Cloud Identity Free and Premium customers. | Learn more.
Google Meet meeting hosts now have more control of participant's audio and video feeds for smoother, more productive meetings
Meeting hosts in Google Meet can now use Audio and Video Lock to turn off the microphones and/or cameras of other participants in the meeting and prevent them from turning them back on until you unlock them, in the main and breakout rooms. Earlier this year, we announced the ability for meeting hosts to mute everyone all at once in Google Meet on desktops/laptop devices. The new Audio and Video lock makes this feature more useful by enabling hosts to prevent participants from unmuting themselves after they are muted.
End users
This feature gives meeting hosts more control over their meetings by letting them decide when they want to allow different levels of participation from attendees, for example to address disruptive participants.
Participants using versions of the Android and iOS apps that do not support audio and video locks will be removed from the meeting if the host or co-host turns on either of the locks. If they attempt to join a meeting that has either of these locks enabled they will be prompted to update their app or use another device to join the meeting. Turning off audio or video locks will allow these participants to rejoin the meeting.
The minimum supported versions are:
Android:
- Android OS version M or newer
iOS
- iOS version 12 or newer
Meet or Gmail app:
- The most updated version
Audio or video locks, as well as chat and present locks, set by the host in the main meeting will also apply to subsequently launched breakout rooms. Once a breakout room is launched, any changes made to a lock setting in an individual room will not affect the settings of other breakout rooms or the main meeting.
- Admins: There is no admin setting for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Google Meet security & privacy for admins
- End users: This feature will be OFF by default. Hosts can turn it on during meetings. Host Management needs to be enabled to use these features.
- Rapid Release domains: / Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) / October 21, 2021
- Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 1, 2021
- Available to all Google Workspace customers, and G Suite Basic and Business customers
- Google Workspace Admin Help: Turn host management on or off by default
- Google Help: Lock Audio during a Google Meet meeting
- Google Help: Lock Video during a Google Meet meeting
- Google Help: Learn how safety features work in breakout rooms
- Google Help: Pin or mute Google Meet participants
Visual updates and improvements for the To, Cc, and Bcc fields in Gmail
- A new right-click menu to easily view a recipient's full name and email, edit contact names, copy email addresses, open a recipient's information card
- Avatar chips for recipients
- Better indicators when adding a user outside your organization and contacts
- Visual indicators when you’ve already added a user as a recipient, and more
- View a recipients entire email address, and edit if needed
- Copy an email address
- Access a user’s information card. Note that information cards can also be accessed by hovering over recipient chips, or selecting and using the keyboard shortcut Alt/Option + →
- External contacts that you’ve interacted with before will be highlighted in a deep, yellow color.
- External contacts that you have not interacted with before will also be highlighted along with an out of organization avatar and warning banner.
- Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. If your organization maintains Chrome extensions that depend on the current Gmail UI for recipient search, selection or authoring, check your integrations against the updated UI.
- Developers: Developers that maintain Chrome extensions that depend on the current Gmail UI, around recipient search, selection or authoring, should check their integrations against the updated UI.
- End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about sending an email in Gmail.
- Rapid Release Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 20, 2021.
- Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) beginning no earlier than November 8, 2021.
- Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
- Note: The menu option to edit a recipient's display name is not available for Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, or the Teaching and Learning Upgrade customers.
Set aside time for focus in Google Calendar
What’s changing
Create a Focus time entry in Calendar |
Focus time appears with a headphones icon on your calendar |
- Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
- End users: This feature will be ON by default. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using focus time.
- Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 20, 2021
- Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 3, 2021
- Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Teaching & Learning Upgrade, Education Standard, Education Plus, and Nonprofits customers
- Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Enterprise Essentials, and Frontline and as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
Add a page break before paragraphs in Google Docs
Add the new "Add page break before" paragraph style in Docs |
- Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
- End users: You can add this formatting style by going to Format > Line & paragraph spacing in the Docs menu bar and clicking “Add page break before.” Visit the Help Center to learn more about paragraph styles in Docs.
- Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 19, 2021
- Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on November 9, 2021
- Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers