Enhancing Security in Today’s Threat Landscape with Google Workspace

At the RSA Conference in San Francisco earlier this month, Google’s security experts joined thousands of security professionals to discuss the latest cybersecurity tools, threats, and real-world attacks. Key topics included ongoing breaches by state-sponsored threat actors and insights from the recent Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB) report.

Email is the starting point for most cyberattacks, and legacy email solutions often fail to remain resilient against exploits. In 2023, 65% of successful intrusions began with an exploit, phishing, or stolen credentials. Once attackers gain access to a network, they typically steal confidential data, deploy ransomware, and can even take control of the entire system.

A Safer Way to Work

Unlike legacy email solutions, Gmail and Google Workspace were designed with modern threats in mind:

• Advanced AI Defenses: Gmail uses cutting-edge AI and threat signals from billions of endpoints to protect users from the vast majority of harmful emails, blocking more than 99.9% of spam, phishing attempts, and malware.
• No Desktop Client Apps: With Workspace, there are no desktop client apps or instances of legacy, on-premises software to patch and secure, reducing the attack surface and workload for IT teams.
• Cloud-Based Data Storage: Workspace stores data in the cloud, which is easier to protect with enterprise data protection controls compared to end-user device storage.
• Client-Side Encryption: Users can prevent vendor or foreign government access to Gmail and Workspace data with client-side encryption.

This approach results in tangible business benefits. According to independent analysis by the insurance company Coalition, users of legacy email solutions were two to three times more likely to experience a cyber insurance claim compared to businesses using Google Workspace, leading to lower losses and 50% lower insurance premiums for Google Workspace customers.

A More Secure Alternative for Enterprise Customers

To extend these benefits to more organizations, Google is launching the Secure Alternative Program. This program helps enterprises migrate from legacy email and productivity solutions to Google Workspace, offering:

• Special Pricing: Discounts on Workspace Enterprise Plus with the AI Security add-on and Mandiant Incident Response Retainer.
• Advanced Threat Defense: Access to Google's most advanced threat defense, data protection, and zero trust controls.
• Migration Support: Specialized migration and change management support to transition to Workspace efficiently.
  

Learn more about this program and download the security whitepaper, “A More Secure Alternative.”

Customers Choose Workspace for Security

Security is a major reason why organizations choose Gmail and Workspace:

• Snap: "Since adopting FIDO2 Security Keys and moving to shorter login sessions across our company, we’ve had zero account takeovers for more than two years," said Nick Reva, head of corporate security engineering for Snap. 
• City of Dearborn: Mayor Abdullah H. Hammoud stated, "Keeping our citizens' data safe is paramount to our mission, and we chose Gmail primarily because of its security. After replacing a legacy email provider with Gmail, our users noticed a meaningful decrease in spam, phishing, and malware, helping us reduce our cybersecurity risks."

Security has long been a cornerstone of Gmail and Workspace. It was true 20 years ago when Gmail launched with advanced spam filters, and it remains true today with automated AI defenses combating increasingly sophisticated attacks. As the threat landscape evolves, security continues to be at the foundation of Google’s efforts.

Learn more about Google’s approach to security and take the next step toward a safer way of working.