Google Cloud Unmanaged Accounts [GCP SECURITY WEEK #1]

Google Cloud unmanaged accounts

Do you know how many of your employees have a Google account with their business email address? No? A lot of companies will be able to give a rather vague answer to this simple question, because they do not know what it is about in detail and why this is of enormous importance. In the course of our Google Cloud security campaign, we would like to devote the first part to the topic of “unmanaged accounts” and examine it in more detail, since from our experience, almost every company is affected by this.

Often, companies and IT managers are not aware that their employees can easily create Google accounts with their business email address. The only requirement is access to the corresponding email inbox and a Google account is created within a few moments. In most cases, non-managed Google accounts or so-called consumer accounts will often be found in the marketing department. The reason for this is relatively simple, the prerequisite for using Google’s advertising services is a Google account. 

As a result, other Google services are often used, as they are seamlessly and easily integrated with each other. Examples of this can be the Google Marketing Platform with Google Data Studio, Google Drive and Google Sheets.

Why is it important to have control over Google Cloud unmanaged accounts?

The risk that comes with unmanaged accounts is that IT staff have no control over them and therefore cannot set policies that are standard in organizations. This could be, for example, password policies or approvals for certain services or the usage of applications in the Google Ecosphere. Ignoring this fact increases the risk of establishing “shadow IT” in the company immensely. Employees use services like Google Drive without the consent and control of IT, which also increases the risk of data exfiltration many times over.  

But don’t worry, this circumstance can also be solved relatively easily and with a few simple steps. As part of our campaign, we are offering a free audit of your domain with Google to get an overview of the situation at your company. Sign up below and secure your spot!  

If we have sparked your interest in the topic, then join us in the upcoming weeks for our Google Cloud Security Weeks and find out what additional features and gimmicks are possible with the Google Cloud.