> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.expel.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.expel.io/detection-strategy-guides/d-m/google/google-workspace-alert-center-detection-strategy.md). # Google Workspace Alert Center Detection Strategy ## Product Overview Google Workspace is a cloud-based productivity and collaboration suite that includes Gmail, Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Meet. The platform provides real-time collaboration features, shared storage, and communication tools for businesses. Google Workspace includes administrative controls for user management, data loss prevention, security settings, and compliance features, with integration capabilities for third-party applications through Google's marketplace. ## Detection Strategy for SaaS Integrations ### Detection Our SaaS detection strategy is designed to identify and respond to suspicious user activity across cloud-based applications. By integrating directly with SaaS platforms, we continuously monitor user behavior and focus on activities such as unusual login patterns, excessive data downloads, or unauthorized access to sensitive files. In addition to user activity, we also detect other key SaaS-related events such as changes to administrative settings, the creation or modification of privileged accounts, and unexpected data sharing with external parties. These events are processed through our detection engine, which leverages behavioral analytics and threat intelligence to flag potential risks. When anomalies are detected, our automated response bot, Ruxie, takes action by enriching evidence fields with first- and third-party threat intelligence. Additional Ruxie actions query a wide span of technologies directly to arm analysts with key pieces of investigative information and related events. ### Response Similar to identity technologies, SaaS apps can hold valuable information such as user roles, location, and other metadata that helps analysts triage Expel Alerts of all types that contain source user information. To learn more about our overall approach to detection strategy, see [About Detection Strategy](/workbench-reference/detections/about-detection-strategy.md). ## What We Support for Google Workspace Alert Center To see a comprehensive list of the most up-to-date Expel detection rules, vendor detection rules, opt-in detections, and available DUETs (**d**id yo**u** **e**xpect **t**his) that we support for Google Workspace Alert Center, you can visit the [Detections page](https://workbench.expel.io/tools/detections/all?filter=%7B%22supportedTech%22%3A%7B%22is%22%3A%5B%22google_workspace_alert_center%3A1.0.0%22%5D%7D%7D) in Workbench or ask your Sales or Support rep for the most recent download. | **Supported event log sources** | | | --------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Google Workspace Alert Center detection rules support** | Yes. | | **Detection rules written by Expel** | Yes. | | **Investigative support through Workbench** |

Yes. We are able to take the following investigative actions to gather data for triage and investigation of events:

| | **Hunting support** | Yes. Hunting is available for this integration to customers who purchase this option. Contact your Sales or Support rep for help understanding the hypotheses and objectives for each hunting technique. For a full list of techniques by integration, see [Hunting Techniques](broken://pages/RmMQK8aDsnWXvU182utw). | ## Additional Details and Common Questions #### Console Access A vendor alert does not typically include all of the contextual timeline activity surrounding the event of interest. Because this integration does not allow us to get all necessary data via the API, we will ask you for a certain level of console access during onboarding. The level of access that we require is meant to support essential triage and research activities, and to help us determine the vector and extent of attacker activity for an identified threat. At minimum, we will ask for visibility into alert data, timeline events recorded, and live response/real time response shell (if applicable). #### DUET A DUET (**d**id yo**u** **e**xpect **t**his) rule flags certain events as needing an immediate verification or notification, and bypasses the normal internal event triage process. The events subject to DUET rules contain behaviors that are not typically indicative of true security incidents, as they are related to policy violations or *potential* risk. There are a number of workflows that a DUET may follow. When enabled, the activity will be flagged for investigation and will be routed to you (rather than to us) to take a specified first action. To see the specific DUET rules currently supported for this integration, visit the [Detections page](https://workbench.expel.io/tools/detections/all) in Workbench. #### Use Cases Not Supported | **Use Case** | **Description** | **Reason** | | --------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | Google Operations Alerts | Update reminders and notices for Google Workspace applications. | These alerts generally represent security update reminders. | | Google Voice Alerts | Configuration issues alerts for the Google Voice product. | Expel doesn't support investigating Google Voice. | | App Maker Alerts | Misconfiguration alerts for the App Maker product. | The only alert that can fire for this technology is a misconfiguration of a SQL device, which doesn't indicate attacker activity. | | Mobile Device Suspicious Activity | Google-provided detections regarding suspicious activity on support mobile devices. | Expel lacks the capabilities to support investigating mobile devices. | | Apps Outage | A notification of an outage of Google applications. | These alerts represent a service outage, not a security event, so there is no lead to investigate. | | User-reported Spam Spike | A user-reported metric referring to an increase in spam messages. | There's little value and a high level of effort involved in investigating spam emails from external sources. | | Activity Rule | A custom, user-defined rule. | We don't support custom rules in Google Workspace Alert Center by default. If a customer creates a rule they'd like surfaced through DUET, we can look to do this on a case-by-case basis. | | Data Loss Prevention | A custom, user-defined rule. | We don't support custom rules in Google Workspace Alert Center by default. If a customer creates a rule they'd like surfaced through DUET, we can look to do this on a case-by-case basis. | | User-reported Phishing | A user reports possible phishing activity. | Expel offers Expel Managed Phishing for this use case, a much more effective and useful solution. | | Leaked Password | A user’s password was detected by Google as leaked. | Google Workspace automatically forces a password reset on affected accounts, so there's little to investigate here. | | Mobile Device Compromised | Alerts on devices that are “rooted” for Android, or “jailbroken” for iOS. | We don't support investigating mobile devices. Organizations may inquire about this, in which case we can evaluate DUETs on a case-by-case basis. | --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter, and the optional `goal` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.expel.io/detection-strategy-guides/d-m/google/google-workspace-alert-center-detection-strategy.md?ask=&goal= ``` `ask` is the immediate question: it should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. `goal` is optional and describes the broader end goal you are ultimately trying to accomplish on behalf of the user. GitBook uses it to tailor the answer towards what is most useful for that goal. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.