Google Announces New Chrome and Chrome OS Security Features for Enterprises

Google on Thursday announced several new security features for enterprises that are using Chrome and Chrome OS.

Google has boasted that Chrome OS has never been hit by ransomware and says there is no evidence of a “successful virus attack”. The Chrome browser, on the other hand, has been increasingly targeted in zero-day attacks.

The tech giant wants to continue improving the security of Chrome OS and Chrome, including for enterprises.

The company is now offering enterprise security teams a collection of plug-and-play integrations with third-party identity and access, endpoint management, and security insights and reporting products.

The new Chrome Enterprise Connectors Framework enables Chrome and Chrome OS integrations with products from Netskope, Okta, BlackBerry, Samsung, VMware, Splunk, CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks. Not all of these are immediately available, but Google says they are “coming soon.”

Netskope products optimize user access to critical data, BlackBerry and Samsung products make it easier for IT teams to manage Chrome OS devices, and Splunk provides actionable insights into potentially risky events.

Another new feature is called Chrome OS Data Controls, which helps organizations prevent data exposure by enabling IT teams to define rules for triggering controls for actions that could result in data leakage, such as printing, copying and pasting, and screen captures.

Google also announced hardware security improvements. The HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook is the first Chrome OS device with Intel vPro Enterprise, which provides hardware-based data security features such as Key Locker and Total Memory Encryption.

HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebooks include features such as Privacy Camera, Fingerprint Sensor, Sure View privacy screen, and HP Proactive Insights, which provides access to device health, performance and security data.

Google will provide more information on these new features on June 8, which it calls Chrome Enterprise Day.

Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a contributing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.

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