Google (News - Alert) announces new security measures to prevent hacking through the use of Less Secure Apps. Learn which apps are impacted and how to better secure your G-Suite account access.
Big security changes are coming to those who use G-Suite within their company protocol. As a G-Suite or Gmail user, you may be familiar with the common practice of giving outside apps access to your Google account in order to link, sync, or otherwise make your life more efficient.
However, there are apps that still use the outdated name/password method of accessing your account. In an attempt to thwart data breaches and security issues when giving these apps access to your G-Suite account, Google is rolling out some security measures that may impact some of your less secure apps.
Nick Hess with SureTec IT provides businesses in Portland, OR and Dayton, OH with support and services on Google Apps shares his insights.
What are Less Secure Apps?
According to a recent press release from Google, Less Secure Apps (LSA's) are non-Google apps that you allow to access your Google account with only a username and password.
Many users give non-Google apps such as iOS mail, calendars, or contacts to help speed up their workflow and efficiencies. However, some of these legacy apps still use an outdated form of access, the username and password, without any other type of authentication. Giving these apps access to your Google account opens you up to a higher risk of hacking and data breaches. If a cybercriminal gains access to your username and password, they also gain access to anything that your app is connected to.
Instead, Google is focusing on only giving account access to apps that use OAuth. OAuth is the new standard for authentication and access delegation without giving away your username and password. Google aims to help better protect its users by upping its standard for connected apps. By requiring the use of OAuth, Google can prevent suspicious login attempts and monitor login policies defined by G-Suite admins.
How Security Changes Impact G-Suite Users
The biggest impact these changes will have on users will be the inability to connect legacy apps, namely calendars, email, and contacts. For those who link their G-Suite mail account to Outlook, for example, may have to re-consider a new way of accessing their email, at least until Microsoft (News - Alert) updates their apps to use OAuth rather than username/password only.
While some users of these legacy apps will be disappointed with this change, Google is offering an extended rollout, giving users until June 15, 2020, to come up with a new plan when accessing these apps through G-Suite for the first time. That means that those who have already linked LSA's to their G-Suite account will not automatically be impacted. Instead, Google will limit access to all LSA's starting in February of 2021. That gives both users and app developers the opportunity to adjust to these new securities.
Keeping Your Account Secure
In many cases, these apps have already introduced updates that use OAuth to connect to Google. Users can double-check their program compatibility per Google's standards, as they may be able to simply download a newer version of their app to access G-Suite using OAuth. For instance, switching from an outdated version of Outlook to Outlook 2019, or Office 365, will allow you to reconnect to your G-Suite account as these both use OAuth. Older versions of Outlook, iOS mail, calendars, and contacts likely only use password authentication and will need to be updated or removed by 2021.
Google's attempt to keep its G-Suite accounts more secure is a benefit to businesses everywhere. While the upgrades to legacy apps may be frustrating to businesses that have long used third-party apps to connect to G-Suite, the benefit of securing your data and devices goes beyond the minor inconvenience of updating your apps.
