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Secure Gemini AI in Google Workspace

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Three Ways to Protect Company Files When Your Team Uses Gemini AI

Written by Allen Falcon, Co-Founder & CEO, Cumulus Global

Artificial intelligence offers incredible potential for productivity. AI also creates new security challenges.

Follow these three steps to protect and secure information when using Gemini AI in Google Workspace.

Key Takeaways

    • ✓Gemini AI sees what your Workspace settings allow
    • ✓Cleaning up shared files prevents sensitive data leaks
    • ✓Automated onboarding and offboarding keeps permissions accurate
    • ✓Decommissioning inactive accounts closes security gaps and cuts costs

Leaking sensitive, proprietary, or confidential data via AI is easy. An employee may put confidential financial data into a public AI tool, a private AI model, like Gemini AI, might read files that were overshared within your organization, or you may accidentally externally share sensitive information embedded in an internal model.

Gemini AI relies on your existing Google Workspace permissions. If a document is shared too broadly, the AI engine will make that information visible to unauthorized users.

Fortunately, you can secure your sensitive files and establish clear guardrails with a few strategic updates.

Step 1 of 3

Audit Your File Sharing Settings

Unintended file sharing happens quietly in nearly all organizations. Over time, link sharing and external permissions create hidden security risks.

Pay close attention to these common sharing pitfalls that can inadvertently surface confidential data to AI tools:

    • Exposure via Links: “Anyone with the link” settings can expose internal documents to external search engines and public AI crawlers.
    • Sharing to your Domain: Giving permission to your entire domain gives everybody, and every attached service, access to the information.
    • Lingering Access: External sharing permissions granted to contractors often remain active long after their work is complete.
    • Group Over-Sharing: Public Google Groups may inadvertently grant broad access to internal shared drives.

Use an automated tool to scan file, folder, and shared drive permissions against defined policies and compliance guidelines. Put systems in place to monitor and mitigate risks in real-time.

Step 2 of 3

Streamline User Onboarding and Offboarding

Manual IT administration is prone to human error and inefficiency. When employees join or leave, updating access controls requires careful detail.

Establishing automated lifecycle policies helps maintain strict access boundaries at every stage of employment.

    • Automate Onboarding: Add new hires to the correct Google Groups, shared folders, and chat spaces using policy-based automation.
    • Secure Transfers: Transfer file ownership directly to managers or secure shared drives as part of your offboarding workflow.
    • Cleanup Calendars: Remove former staff from internal meetings without disrupting active client appointments.
    • Manage Contacts: Ensure mobile address books remain accurate by clearing out former employees and transferring key business contacts.

Automate these steps to ensure your access controls are up-to-date and Gemini AI only displays sensitive files to authorized team members.

Step 3 of 3

Manage Inactive Accounts and Licenses

Inactive accounts waste budget and create unnecessary entry points for bad actors. Staff members who left months ago should not remain in your user directory.

Put automated management rules in place to ensure that former accounts are properly monitored and decommissioned:

    • Suspension Rules: Establish automated account suspension policies to keep your user directory secure and up-to-date.
    • Inactivity Alerts: Utilize alerts to track and address accounts with no login activity over a 30-day period.
    • License Management: Minimize software expenses and satisfy legal data retention requirements by transitioning offboarded employees to archive licenses.
    • Data Preservation: Safely eliminate paid licenses by transferring essential data into alternate cloud storage options.

Manage user lifecycles to reduce your monthly costs while protecting your company data.

Take the Next Step for Workspace Security

Securing your workspace does not require a complete operational overhaul. Targeted, automated changes create a foundation for strong data governance and reduce operational overhead and risks.

As demonstrated in our recent 3T@3 Series session, automated solutions like Patronum give you the capability to actively monitor and manage permissions and access, streamline your onboarding and offboarding processes, and secure your Google Workspace environment.

Contact us or schedule time to connect with a Cloud Advisor at Cumulus Global to arrange your workspace security review and to explore your options.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

Whether you’re beginning your cloud migration or looking to improve an existing environment, our Cloud Advisors can help.

Schedule a conversation

Allen Falcon

Co-Founder & CEO, Cumulus Global

Allen Falcon co-founded Cumulus Global in 2006 to help small businesses implement enterprise-grade cloud, security, and compliance solutions. Under his leadership, Cumulus Global has grown into a managed cloud services provider supporting more than 1,000 organizations throughout North America.

Best Ways to Protect Your Google Apps Account from Being Hacked

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We have seen an alarming increase in the number of Google Apps accounts that have been “hacked” across both our business and education customers. Securing your Google Apps account is crucial to protect your sensitive information and prevent unauthorized access.

Google Apps platform security is NOT the issue.  ALL of the hacked accounts are due to compromised user identities.

In every case we have encountered, the users have used their Google Apps email address and password with another service that has had a breach, or has had malware on their computer that provided username and password keystrokes to the hackers.

In both types of incidents, hackers then log in as the user and cause mayhem.

Essential Steps to Make Your Google Apps Account More Secure From Hackers:

1) Educate your users that they are not to use their Google Apps password for any other account not explicitly authorized. Users should also not use their Google Apps email address as the username for personal accounts with other services. It’s also critical to understand the risks of using third-party apps.

2) Check Your Systems for malware and make sure your endpoint protection is up to the task. If not, we recommend Webroot Endpoint Protection and Web Security Services (the link is to our edu site, but the service is available to business and government customers as well).

3)  Implement Two-Factor Authentication (2FA).  In business environments, users should be using 2FA to secure their accounts.  Implementation can be involved if you have other services linked to Google Apps, as you will need to generate service-specific passwords.

4) Use Strong Passwords: Create a strong, unique password for your Google account. Avoid using easily guessable information and include a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters.

5) Review Account Activity: Periodically review the recent activity on your account. Google provides a “Last account activity” feature that allows you to check for any suspicious login attempts.

6) Check Account Permissions: Regularly review the apps and services that have access to your Google account. Remove access for any applications or devices that you no longer use or trust.

7) Beware of Phishing Attempts: Be cautious of phishing emails or websites that attempt to steal your login credentials. Always verify the authenticity of emails and URLs before entering your Google account information.

In education environments, 2FA is not practical for all users, as students and many faculty members may not have mobile devices available to access the Authenticator.  For schools, we recommend any user with partial or full administrative privileges have 2FA active.

FAQs About Keeping Your Google Account Safe from Hackers

Activating 2FA is covered by our support agreements.

For customers and others without support agreements, mention this blog post and we will discount our hourly support fee by 10%; W

We will discount Webroot deployment fees by 50%.  

Both offers expire on December 31, 2014.

Please contact our Service Desk for 2FA assistance; contact Sales regarding Webroot.

 

Moving to the Cloud: Security

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Green_GaugeThis post is the first in a series addressing concerns organizations may have that prevent them from moving the cloud-based solutions.

At some point in the evaluation and decision process, the issue of security comes to the forefront as organizations look at cloud computing.  Vendors and resellers, like Cumulus Global, often provide two answers — both of which are correct:

  1. Cloud computing providers need their environments to be secure, and they invest time and money on security.  Most cloud providers deliver environments and systems that are significantly more secure than their customers could provide for themselves.
  2. Standard cloud security may not be sufficient to meet specific business needs.  Just as they would with in-house systems, cloud computing customers should be prepared to add additional security services to meet business requirements such as HIPAA, SEC, FINRA, and PCI compliance.

As a first step, organizations moving to the cloud should review the security capabilities of their solution provider.  Beyond the technology, look for certifications such as SSAE-16 Type I and II, ISO 27001, and FISMA.  Make sure that the provider’s security practices are reflected in their terms of service, contracts, and service level agreements.  Finally, verify if and how you can add security capabilities to meet business or industry requirements.

With a reasonable level of due diligence and planning, cloud solutions can overcome any security concerns.

Next Post in the Series: Moving to the Cloud: Cost Savings