New security and AI detection features for Google Workspace for Education

Editor’s note: At this year’s British Educational Training and Technology (Bett) conference, we announced new AI, security, and administrative features designed to help every learner and educator. Here’s a closer look at what’s new.

As AI and education technology continue to evolve, ensuring a secure and trustworthy learning environment is more critical than ever. We are committed to equipping schools with tools that not only foster innovation but also prioritize safety and data integrity. From new capabilities that help the community verify AI-generated media to automated protections against ransomware and advanced controls for administrators, these enhancements empower schools to navigate the future with greater security and confidence.

Ensuring the responsible use of AI in education

We’ve pioneered the responsible use of AI since its development. As generative media becomes more prevalent and high-fidelity, we’re deploying tools to help the education community determine whether the content they're interacting with was created or edited using AI. You can detect images and videos created or edited by Google AI using SynthID, our invisible digital watermark. Simply upload the media to the Gemini app and ask, “Is this AI-generated?” This is just the first step. Over time, we plan to expand this verification to audio files and non-Google models as well.

Bringing enhanced admin controls to schools

We’ve brought enhanced security features and more granular controls to admins to ensure schools are always in control.

• Drive ransomware detection and file restoration: If ransomware is detected on a computer using Drive for desktop¹, syncing pauses immediately. Admins and users are alerted, and users can easily restore multiple files to pre-infection versions — avoiding data loss and ransom payments.

Users see this notification in Drive for desktop when ransomware has been detected on their device, automatically pausing file syncing to the cloud.

Users can easily restore multiple files to a previous state with Google Drive.

An alert in the Admin console showing a notification for detected ransomware.

• SecOps integration: Now available to Education Plus and Education Standard users, the SecOps data connector allows you to seamlessly forward all your Google Workspace activity logs (including Gmail, Drive, Calendar and more) into the Google SecOps platform²). Centralizing your Workspace audit data with other security telemetry allows you to detect complex threats faster, accelerate investigations through automated workflows, and maintain the long-term archives necessary for effortless auditing and compliance.
• Access Controls for Google Meet live streams: Additional access controls for Google Meet will let hosts decide who can view their live streams, including external participants, and limit access to a live stream to specific users or groups, and not the entire domain.

New "Adaptive" meeting type: A new opt-in "Adaptive" meeting type setting provides access to these new controls. Existing meetings will keep their behaviors unchanged.

We’re committed to making sure Google Workspace for Education remains not only the most helpful tool for students and educators, but the most secure. Stay tuned for more security and AI integrity updates in the coming months. To see all of our announcements, check out our Launch Guide.