About Crimson IT
Combining robust human and AI powered cyber security measures with efficient IT management, Crimson IT business delivers comprehensive solutions. They provide proactive monitoring, threat detection, and rapid response services, ensuring clients’ digital assets are safeguarded. With Crimson IT expertise, businesses can focus on growth, knowing their technology infrastructure is secure and optimized.
REQUEST: Crimson IT, while working on a client project, required assistance with implementing robust information security measures for the Google Workspace environment. The company approached the Wise IT team with this request.
RESULT: Wise IT conducted an audit of the Google Workspace infrastructure for Crimson IT, upgraded licenses, implemented a role-based administration model, developed incident response protocols, established activity logging and visualization, configured contextual access and session management, geo-restricted data, standardized Google Workspace usage, set up multi-factor authentication, and conducted staff training.
Business Challenge
Considering the high-security requirements of the client’s project, Crimson IT required assistance with implementing robust information security measures for the Google Workspace environment. The client, operating within a regulated industry in the USA, needed to ensure compliance with stringent data protection standards, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). The client needed a robust and comprehensive Google Workspace security setup to manage and protect sensitive data, mitigate risk, and maintain regulatory compliance.
Solution
Workspace infrastructure. Based on the audit findings, Wise IT proposed upgrading the existing licenses to provide enhanced security features.
To ensure efficient and secure administration, Wise IT implemented an Identity and Access Management (IAM) model. This model defined administrative roles and responsibilities, streamlining management and reducing the risk of unauthorized access. Additionally, incident response rules were established, and Security Group notifications were configured to promptly alert administrators of any security incidents. Wise IT set up forwarding of Google Workspace logs to BigQuery and visualized these logs as dashboards in Looker Studio, providing a clear and convenient way to monitor administrator activity and user actions. Experts also configured Contextual Access settings, including rules to restrict access to sensitive data outside the USA with an exception group. User Session Management rules were implemented to further enhance security.
To comply with data residency requirements, Wise IT specialists activated Data Location targeting the USA for core services like Gmail and Drive. This ensures that all sensitive data is stored within the USA to meet regulatory compliance needs.
Recognizing the prevalence of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies, Wise IT specialists standardized the use of Google Workspace by configuring Work Profile rules on mobile devices. This approach separates personal and work data, enhancing security and simplifying device management. Wise IT also configured Two-Factor Authentication (using SMS or an authenticator app) for an additional security layer.
Finally, Wise IT conducted comprehensive staff training to ensure that all users, including administrators, understand the new security measures and can effectively utilize the enhanced Google Workspace environment.
Results of the project and client feedback
As a result of the project, the customer was able to use all the advantages of the Google Workspace solution. Additionally, the client’s infrastructure now fully complies with the requirements of the international standard ISO 27001, which makes the exchange of sensitive and confidential information not only convenient, but also safe, fully controlled and protected.
“Any company in the USA that deals with the exchange of sensitive information, such as HIPAA, must meet high standards of information security,” says Anton Mark, manager of security services at Crimson IT. “This includes physical, administrative, and technical measures to protect information. Our main challenge in the project was not only setting up the IT infrastructure but also a seamless and convenient transition of employees to the new work rules, avoiding discomfort and business interruptions.”
Roman Filobok, CEO of Wise IT, adds: “Because Google Workspace inherently meets the high standards of ISO 27001, it streamlined our approach to company-wide implementation, role distribution, administration setup, and staff training.”
