With online safety being a vital element for any business, the growth of cloud systems relies on user confidence that their data is as secure as possible.
According to Google, the number of paying organisations actively using Google Drive exceeded the million mark earlier in the year. Now the tech giant is making new moves to improve privacy for Drive and also Google Apps for Work and Google Apps for Education.
Enhancements
The popularity of Google Drive has seen it rise to number 16 on comScore’s list of the top 25 mobile apps after its debut earlier in the year.
Now the company has updated the Mobile Device Management (MDM) system that is used by Google Drive business customers. The new enhancements mean that business can now monitor usage and even wipe data from lost or redundant devices without wiping personal data that may be stored on it. The use of device encryption and strong passwords has also been improved.
Google Drive is also getting an update to eDiscovery for Google Apps Vault, which means a business will have greater control over employee files. Essentially, data will now be covered by the same retention policies and legal hold capabilities that apply to email and chat.
Privacy standard
Google is also adding the new ISO/IEC 27018:2014 privacy standard to its compliance framework.
Marc Crandall, Head of Global Compliance for Google, wrote on a blog post: “We continuously work with independent auditors to verify our data protection commitments. For example, over the years we’ve completed third-party SOC2 / SOC3 security audits and achieved ISO 27001 certification to provide transparency and accountability around our security procedures.
“The 27018 audit also validates that our Google Apps data protection commitments meet a rigorous international privacy and data protection standard. We think that this a great step forward for both our customers and for the industry. While laws and regulations vary from country to country, the principles set forth in the standard are widely recognised.”
Ernst & Young, acting as an independent auditor, confirmed that Google’s privacy practices and contractual commitments for Google Apps for Work and Google Apps for Education are in compliance with the new standard.
