10 ways Chrome Enterprise helps protect employees and businesses

Editor's note: Security is top of mind for many businesses as they shift to increasingly digital workplaces. In honor of Safer Internet Day, we thought we’d do a quick overview of the security capabilities available in Chrome Enterprise that can help businesses better protect their end users.

As organizations increase their productivity through the use of cloud and SaaS apps, managing business risk makes IT security even more imperative. They have to guard the organization against external attacks and internal vulnerabilities, while keeping the business moving. According to PurpleSec’s Cyber Security Statistics for 2019, malware and web-based attacks are the two most costly attack types—and companies spend an average of $2.4 million to ward off these threats. Ransomware attacks are expected to cost an estimated $6 trillion annually by 2021.

Each year, we introduce new security features to ensure that organizations and their employees have the resources to be more safe and secure online. Chromebooks help IT administrators protect employees from harmful attacks. 

Here’s a brief look at how Chrome Enterprise keeps your employees and business better protected.

Phishing prevention 

Safe Browsing 
Unidentified dangerous sites can harm devices or cause problems when your employees are browsing online. With Google Chrome Safe Browsing, your employees are warned about malicious sites before they navigate to them, helping to deter negligent behavior. 

Password protection
Help keep your organization's data safe by mitigating phishing attacks caused by password thefts. Password Alert Policy requires employees to reset their password when used with an unauthorized site, thus reducing the risk of a potential security breach.

Security keys
Google’s Titan Security Key helps to prevent hackers from logging into accounts when login details and passwords are compromised. By providing a second step of authentication after your password, security keys help prevent phishing and keep out attackers that could steal restricted information.

Protection from ransomware and other malicious software

Background auto-updates and small on-device data footprint
Seamless background auto-updates address vulnerabilities before they affect employees and your business—without interrupting workflows. And because Chromebooks are cloud-native by design, your files and customizations are primarily stored safely in the cloud, protected from bad actors by Google’s infrastructure.

ClusterFuzz
Chrome OS uses ClusterFuzz to help rapidly find potential security vulnerabilities before they affect users. Employees can focus on what matters most without worrying about breaches and external attacks.

Prevent OS tampering
All Chromebooks use verified boot to confirm the operating system is an authentic, safe, Google-distributed build. With two versions of Chrome OS on every device, Chromebooks can proceed with boot-up even if one OS has been tampered with.

Google Security Modules
Chrome devices ensure stored user data encrypted, by default—no configuration required—with keys stored on tamper-resistant hardware called the Google Security Module (learn more in our ebook, “Cloud-Native Security for Endpoints”). 

Ephemeral mode
With Chrome Enterprise, Chromebooks can be set up to wipe all data from the device at the end of your session. Enabling ephemeral mode reduces the chances of any browsing information being left behind on a user’s device.

Block malicious apps & URLs

Blacklisting URLs 
By blacklisting specific URLs or sets of websites through the Google Admin console, you can restrict employee access to malicious sites. 

Google Play Protect
Google Play Protect helps detect potentially harmful applications in a variety of ways (including static analysis, dynamic analysis, and machine learning) and prevents your employees from downloading them.

Our vision with Chrome Enterprise is to secure cloud entry so that every enterprise can work smarter and stay safe—and make work easier and more meaningful for everyone. Learn more about Chrome Enterprise security at cloud.google.com/chrome-enterprise/security.