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Google Workspace is the collaboration backbone for thousands of companies—but its very convenience can hide dangerous misconfigurations. Third‑party apps, abandoned accounts, and relaxed sharing settings creep in over time. A regular security audit is the fastest way to uncover those risks and keep your environment compliant.
Why regular audits matter
Leaving Google Workspace on autopilot is expensive: license waste, data leaks, and audit failures all start as small, unnoticed settings. A quarterly (or even monthly) review catches drifts early and proves due diligence for standards like SOC 2, ISO 27001, and GDPR.
Quick win: Set a recurring calendar event and make someone the audit owner—consistency beats perfection.
A 9‑point Google Admin Console checklist
Below is a fast, repeatable checklist you can run entirely from the Admin Console. Each step includes the exact navigation path and what to look for:
Security → Security dashboard: Check for overall risk indicators, especially how many users have enrolled in 2‑Step Verification. This gives you a quick view of urgent vulnerabilities.
Security → Security health: Review Google’s prioritized security recommendations, including enforcement of MFA, external sharing settings, and DKIM email authentication.
Directory → Users → Add a filter › Last sign‑in > 90 days: Identify inactive users. These accounts can be suspended or deleted to reduce risk and free up licenses.
Security → Investigation tool → Log events › Login: Look for failed login attempts from suspicious geographic regions or impossible travel patterns. These could indicate brute‑force attacks or compromised credentials.
Security → API controls → App access control: Audit connected third‑party apps. Pay attention to those with high-scope access like full Gmail or Drive permissions. Revoke unnecessary access.
Apps → Google Workspace → Drive & Docs → Sharing settings: Evaluate whether files can be shared publicly or outside your domain. Reduce the risk by limiting sharing defaults.
Reporting → Audit log → Admin: Monitor for unusual admin actions, such as changes to routing or MFA settings, that might indicate insider threats or compromised admin accounts.
Devices → Mobile & endpoints: Review which devices are connecting to your Workspace. Flag and disable unmanaged or lost devices that haven’t synced recently.
Security → Data protection → Rules: Review and define DLP (Data Loss Prevention) rules for sensitive data types like PII, financial records, and customer information.
Run through these nine stops regularly and you’ll catch 80–90% of the misconfigurations we most often see in incident response cases.
Deep‑diving into third‑party app risk
In API controls, click Review third‑party access.
Sort by Access level; focus first on Sensitive and Restricted scopes.
Ask: Does this app still have a business owner? If not, block it.
Move high‑risk but necessary apps to Trusted and document the justification.
Tip: Create a quarterly report of all apps granted Gmail or Drive scopes and send it to department heads for sign‑off.
Taming orphaned & over‑privileged accounts
Orphaned accounts – Start by opening the Admin Console, navigating to Users, and applying filters for users who haven't signed in for 90+ days and don't have 2-Step Verification enabled. These accounts are both inactive and insecure. Suspend them right away, and if needed, archive or transfer any associated data before deletion.
Super Admin sprawl – Admin roles → Super Admin → Assigned admins. There should be fewer than five; convert daily‑driver accounts to custom low‑privilege roles and keep Super Admin only for break‑glass.
Remember: Super Admin users can always bypass SSO with a username & password—treat them like production root keys.
Automate reports so audits don’t slip
Google’s Security Center lets you schedule email summaries, but exporting logs to BigQuery or Chronicle gives richer dashboards. If you prefer no‑code, create App Scripts that push weekly CSVs to a Drive folder for review.
Better yet, use a dedicated SaaS‑management layer:
Continuous monitoring with push alerts
License waste reporting and auto‑suspend rules
One‑click evidence packages for auditors
This turns your ad‑hoc checklist into real‑time assurance.
Turn auditing into always‑on protection
Manual checklists work, but they don’t scale. A platform built on Google’s Admin APIs can watch every setting 24/7 and surface issues before users notice. Scheduled offboarding, app whitelists, and role‑based guardrails save IT time and keep auditors happy.
When audits become automatic, Google Workspace shifts from “potential liability” to “provable stronghold.”
