Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Stay secure with default-on mobile management

We recently introduced several features for G Suite to help keep your data secure. As described in our earlier post, this includes basic mobile management that’s on by default. Keep reading for more information on this new setting configuration and how it’ll be rolled out to your organization.

If your users bring their Android and iOS devices to work, you have the option to turn on mobile device management for additional security.

If you’ve never enabled this option, we will automatically turn on basic mobile management for your domain by the end of the year. This means that any user who doesn’t currently have a passcode or screen lock on their device will be required to set one up before accessing their G Suite apps.

To control the timing of this change, you can do one of three things:
  1. Turn on basic mobile management now, and enforce a passcode on your users' devices.
  2. Turn on basic mobile management now, but don't enforce a passcode on your users' devices.
  3. Enable and then disable mobile management. This will prevent basic mobile management from being turned on automatically.

If you do any of the above, passcodes and screen locks will not be automatically enforced at any point in the future.

A few important things to keep in mind:
  • If your organization has previously enabled basic, advanced, or custom mobile management, your users won’t be impacted by this launch.
  • This launch applies even if your organization uses a third-party Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM) provider. It won’t impact the way your EMM works in any way.
  • Mobile devices syncing via Google Sync won’t be impacted by this change and won’t have a passcode or screen lock enforced.
  • Users who sync their mail via IMAP and who don’t use native G Suite apps (e.g. Gmail) won’t be impacted by this change, and their devices won’t have a passcode or screen lock enforced.


For more information on Google Mobile Management, please visit the Help Center.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release by the end of 2018

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
Admins and end users

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Turn on mobile device management
Help Center: Compare mobile management features
The Keyword: Helping G Suite customers stay secure with new proactive phishing protections and management controls


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