Google to warn G Suite admins of government-backed attacks

Google started warning Gmail users of state-sponsored attacks in 2012 and now the option has been made available to G Suite admins.

What is G Suite?

G Suite (formerly Google Apps for Work) is a suite of communication, storage and collaboration software offered by Google and is aimed at enterprise customers.

Depending on the plan, G Suite comes with an admin panel and vault for managing users and the services, allowing G Suite domain administrators to adjust security and privacy settings to achieve the desired level of protection.

Attackers who gain access to G Suite user accounts can effectively gain access to much sensitive enterprise data.

New feature comes with several options

The feature is accessible via the Admin Console (Admin Console > Reports > Manage Alerts > Government backed attack).

“If an admin chooses to turn the feature on, an email alert (to admins) is triggered when we believe a government-backed attacker has likely attempted to access a user’s account or computer through phishing, malware, or another method. It does not necessarily mean that the account has been compromised or that there was a widespread attack on an organization,” Google explained.

The admin can decide whether he or she will be the only one that will get an email notification when attacks are suspected or whether the targeted user will be alerted as well.

He or she can also reset the password of any account with suspicious activity, enrol the user in 2-Step Verification, or ask them to take additional steps to secure their account.