Would You Believe that Google’s Blocking Its Employees from the Internet?

Web-based, online threats pose significant danger for businesses today, which makes it all the more important that you take steps to protect your organization. Google is taking its own protections to the extreme, recently launching a pilot program where the Internet is largely unavailable to its workers.

That’s right. Google, the world’s leading search engine, is actively experimenting with minimizing the use of the Internet.

Some of Google’s Employees Now Use Internet-Free PCs

Once you get past the initial surprise of hearing that one of—if not the—most ubiquitous names in technology is largely eschewing the defining technology of our age, this shift actually makes a lot of sense. Major technology companies are very frequently targeted by cyberattacks, seeing as the data they possess is incredibly valuable and access on any level could be quite lucrative for the enterprising cybercriminal.

It’s important to also remember that many cyberthreats actively take advantage of the human element of a business rather than an inherent flaw in the infrastructure itself, using phishing and other forms of social engineering over traditional hacking. By blocking most of the Internet for many employees, Google is attempting to find a way to both up its security and prevent leaks—particularly before working to implement assorted tools powered by artificial intelligence within the company’s processes, as well as pursuing more sensitive work via government contracts.

In this program, the only sites that Google employees can access are those owned by Google itself through an internal intranet, meaning that Google Drive, Gmail, and YouTube are still accessible. While originally intended to be mandatory for a 2,500-employee sample, the program is now open to any employee that wants to participate and can be opted out if so desired. However, while this approach should help reduce the threats that a given employee might encounter, it certainly doesn’t eliminate them all outright. Google’s employees will still be susceptible to other forms of attack, like phishing, so the removal of much of the Internet hasn’t necessarily removed all of the risk.

There is also the question of how employees will ultimately respond to these limitations, and whether it will negatively impact their productivity and their opinion of their workplace.

Time Will Tell How Google’s Experiment Goes

In the meantime, there’s plenty that you can do with the assistance of our team here at BNMC to help improve your business’ productivity and security alike. Find out what we have to offer through our managed services by calling (978) 482-2020 today.