Google LLC today strengthened G Suite with more security tools for Gmail.

The new tools are designed for use by information technology administrators, and include a new sandbox feature, better protections against phishing and malware, and new controls to stop employees from forwarding, copying, downloading or printing messages they receive.

In a blog post, G Suite product managers Andy Wen and Neil Kumaran noted that the adoption of new security tools is often tied to how easy they are to implement, and that the best way of doing this is to give IT administrators full control over the process.

Admins will soon have the option to implement a new security sandbox feature in Gmail that’s meant to help protect against zero day or yet-undiscovered threats, ransomware and malware that’s propagated by malicious embedded scripts. When the feature is switched on, email attachments are opened in a secure environment where they can be tested for the above threats.

“This allows us to proactively analyze behavior to detect previously unknown threats — and this analysis is done in a matter of minutes so that users don’t have to wait long for emails to come through,” Wen and Kumaran said.

To control which kinds of emails are tested in the security sandbox, admins also will be able to set up custom rules. Suspect messages will then be moved into quarantine for further investigation, with employees prevented from accessing them.

The second update relates to Google’s latest “recommended defenses” against phishing attacks that work by trying to convince people to give up credentials such as their user names and passwords. The new recommended defenses will be switched on by default and will automatically route any suspect emails to a quarantined area for further investigation. They also help identify emails with “unusual attachment types” and those that try to spoof user’s domains, displaying a warning to make users aware.

Finally, Google is introducing what it calls a “confidential mode” in Gmail that comes with built-in “information rights management” controls. They prevent users from copying, downloading, printing or sending emails on, helping protect confidential company information.

“In addition to protecting sensitive content in your emails by creating expiration dates, you can also require additional authentication via text message to view an email,” Google’s product managers said. “This is an option you can select before sending your message. This makes it possible to help protect data even if a recipient’s email account has been hijacked while the message is active.”

Google said Gmail Confidential is generally available now. The security sandbox and new recommended defenses will roll out in the coming weeks.

Image: Google