Cloud Computing

G Suite vs Office 365 Security Features Comparison Monitoring Protection

G Suite vs Office 365 Security Features Comparison Monitoring Protection

So you have decided to opt to take your business to the cloud and made up a final decision about your exact needs. However, the features alone may not be the best options for making the proper decision as such. One of the essential elements you need to take care of includes the Security aspects provided by the cloud-based productivity suites. Since the cloud platform is becoming one of the major platforms for improved productivity and the concept of an open office taking shape, it is quite essential to work towards choosing the best cloud platform for your needs. That is precisely why it is crucial to compare the pros and cons of the platforms available at your disposal. How do G Suite vs Office 365 Security compare with one another regarding security features?

We will dig a little deeper into the concept for a proper understanding. And we will be focussing on security features of the tools because, in other aspects, these two are almost equivalent to their features.

G Suite vs Office 365 Security Aspects:

There are several areas that you would want to prioritize first when looking for a cloud solution for your business. Design, functionality, ease of use and pricing can be some of the essential features you would want to look out for. But, one of the major features you should never miss out on is the security provided by the business productivity suites. Digital business is always vulnerable to the attacks from hackers and scamsters. If you want to stay safe, your business suite should be able to offer you the functionality that is indeed essential.

From that perspective, let us now move ahead to check the best security features provided by each of these productivity suites and their implementation of the security features.

Data Monitoring and Protection

Google has an extensive network of data centers, and thus it would mostly be globally distributed servers that they can design to meet the exact needs. This is precisely why G Suite can have extensive coverage data centers with hardened servers. Google can handle the security issues effectively because it monitors its entire hardware stacks.

And then, Google has full data encryption. This will ensure better security. It also comes with machine learning strategies that would help you check out the threats easily. You can also expect protection of your user data. Google is known for protecting the user data of its clients and customers from external threats. It relies on both manual and automatic strategies to handle malware attacks.

In comparison, Microsoft Office 365 offers “Threat Intelligence” for handling threat detection. With this new add-on/offerings, you can do the following:

  • Easily identify, monitor and understand external attacks
  • Helping you to quickly address threats in products like Exchange Online and SharePoint Online
  • Providing deeper insights and knowledge to help prevent attacks against your organization

Currently, this feature comes free with O365 E5 plans and can be purchased separately as an add/on for other plans.

Also, the O365 service recently updated it’s Exchange Online Advanced Threat Protection (ATP). It offers you an email filtering service that can work wonderfully in addressing advanced spam and threats. You can be assured of real-time protection against the malicious URLs. It can also control phishing attempts as well.

Cloud security and data encryption are some of the options that Microsoft focusses on. You have access to multiple layers of data protection and encryption.

Compliance Standards

Google conforms to the best standards for addressing the privacy and security of the users, typically required for Enterprise customers. It follows the best practices. If you are in an industry that focusses on the compliance with specific standards, G Suite can be something quite remarkable in every aspect.

The service is compliant with the following certification standards –

  • ISO 27001, 27018
  • SOC 2, SOC 3
  • HIPAA
  • FERPA
  • COPPA and the recently launched
  • EU Data Protection Directive and GDPR

On the other hand, Microsoft comes with over 900 different standards for meeting with various compliance with guidelines. You can be assured that the platform is up to date with every upcoming standard that is aimed at protecting your compliance requirements. They do have specific teams for tracking and implementing the standards and guidelines.

A few standards that Microsoft complies with include

  • ISO 27001, 27018
  • SSAE16
  • SOC1 Type II & SOC2 Type II
  • FISMA
  • HIPAA and
  • EU Data Protection Directive and GDPR

User Access

The security features may not be accessible by users of the platform. Google has drawn flak for this area because they have been providing limited user access for the security features. We mean that the IT administrators have no control over many of the security management options through the Admin Panel. This can be an issue when it comes to the usability of G Suite from the security perspective.

It may be necessary to check for the user controls that the suite offers you before opting for G Suite . However, Google has been working towards improving the functionality. The admins can now control the user access or permissions and manage user accounts.

Microsoft has built in the user control functionality in every section or aspect of the package. As an administrator, you can establish specific security features and have full control over the review options. In fact, the complete control options provided to the administrators will ensure that your data and the business on the cloud will remain safer forever.

Security Logs

You will not be able to tamper with the security logs of the G Suite documentation. The activity logs can be accessed through the API console on your Google API. You can easily have access to the complete record of activity.

When it comes to Office 365, you can quickly modify, audit or delete activity logs. The functionality will only be available if you are an admin of the subscription, and thus you need not worry about the malicious insiders covering their malicious activities. Ability to remove the activity logs can also help you get rid of unneeded data. Thus, it would be easier to look for and monitor your security logs.

Automatic Updates

This is yet another area that Google takes the lead over Microsoft. When it comes to providing regular and frequent security and system updates, no other service provider can beat Google. The G Suite is fully integrated with the Cloud, and thus it keeps receiving regular security updates. The frequent security updates will be capable of removing the weak spots from the security perspective.

The software updates on Microsoft Office 365 used to be a little tricky and sometimes time-consuming, especially in Enterprise environments. However, in recent times – the service has received updates and has been getting frequent updates thus offering seamless functionality and patches for security vulnerabilities.

On the other hand, the Office 365 ProPlus is updated on a frequent basis with new features, security updates, & non-security updates. These updates are released by using the official update channels. For each release(s) in each update channel, there is a unique version and build number assigned to it.

So, who should you go with?

Well, the choice may not be that easy as it may appear to be. As we have already seen in the above discussion, both Office 365 and G Suite are loaded with extra features making them excellent options for cloud-based office requirements.

However, there are a few minor differences. Apart from threat detection, it is equally important to keep the company data secure. In essence, your cloud software should be capable of not only preventing the wrong data from entering the service but should also aid you in keeping the data private. The essence of the matter is the privacy is as important as the security of the system. Google seems to fall short considerably in this department.

Google “lives” in the advertisements. That may turn your private data to the cloud susceptible to being sold out. Though not in the strict sense of selling, you may find that Google may show targetted ads based on user behavior. In sharp contrast to this situation, Microsoft categorically indicates that they never sell the private data stored on the cloud or make the data available to the third parties in any case. That should indeed be a massive difference between Office 365 Suite from Microsoft and G Suite from Google.

Microsoft has been ruling the productivity apps arena and similar other tools since quite long, and as such, they are aware of the security holes in the system and how to address these issues. Google, on the other hand, has just entered the arena of productivity suite and may thus need to go through a road ahead to become one of the prominent players.

The Concluding Thoughts

That is precisely what can differentiate both Office 365 and G Suite regarding security features. As we have already observed through the side by side comparison in the above paragraphs, both Google and Microsoft come with almost similar characteristics when it comes to the platform security options.

However, when you compare Google with Microsoft, you will find that Microsoft has better reliability and experience. You can be assured of security and commitment regarding user privacy. Moreover, you can be guaranteed that the confidentiality of your data remains secure in the cloud. We would consider Microsoft and their offering – Office 365 – to be an excellent option as the best and secure platform for Cloud-based productivity suite for your requirements.

With no ill feeling towards Google and their capabilities, it somehow falls short of the functionality and security that Microsoft offers you through their Office 365 suite. After all, experience pays, they say!

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