Google is responding to EU data solutions with new Workspace controls

Google Cloud has announced a new set of Sovereign control for users of its Workspace productivity software, which aims to enable organizations in both the public and private sectors to control, restrict and monitor data transfers to and from the European Union.

The changes seem to have come in response to a number of recent European Union efforts to better protect members’ personal data when using cloud services, following Privacy Shield crash.

With these upcoming changes, Workspace users will gain an expanded set of access controls, as well as the ability to generate comprehensive reports for data access and action logs.

European customers will also be able to impose stronger encryption on the part of the customer, which it was first proposed of Workspace users last June. Customer encryption is now publicly available for Google Drive, Docs, Spreadsheets, and Presentations, with plans to extend functionality to Gmail, Google Calendar, and Meet by the end of 2022.

Workspace users will also be able to restrict or approve access to Google support through access approvals and restrict customer support to EU-based support staff through access management. Google also provides ongoing support from the Google Engineering Team with Remote Virtual Desktop Infrastructure.

Data regions that allow customers to control the storage location of their data at rest will also be available by the end of 2023. This will give customers coverage of both data storage and processing in the region, together with a copy in the country.