Material Security helps state, local, education, and federal agencies maintain robust security measures without sacrificing the agility of cloud collaboration.
As government and civilian agencies alike embrace the cloud for collaboration, platforms like Google Drive have become indispensable for sharing documents. However, with the convenience of sharing comes the serious responsibility of safeguarding sensitive data. From Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) to personally identifiable information (PII) and more, the risk of unauthorized access or inadvertent sharing is ever-present. So how can organizations maintain the agility of cloud collaboration while ensuring robust security measures? This is where Material Security steps in.
Balancing Seamless Collaboration with Data Security
In a digital-first world, agencies face a daunting challenge: tracking and protecting sensitive documents across vast cloud environments like Google Workspace and Microsoft 365. With thousands of government employees and contractors sharing countless documents daily, maintaining full visibility into what’s being shared, with whom, and whether these actions are compliant is a formidable task.
Restricting document sharing outright can stifle operations, slowing down both public and private sectors. Likewise, relying on manual oversight for each document shared creates bottlenecks, draining valuable resources and increasing operational costs. The traditional security model simply doesn't scale with the complexity of modern collaborative workflows. This leaves organizations exposed to risks like insider threats, unintentional data leaks, or outright breaches—especially when dealing with CUI, PII and other sensitive government or corporate data.
Protecting Business and Agency Operations Without Disrupting Them
Material Security offers a next-generation solution for protecting shared Google Drive documents—without the friction that typically accompanies robust security protocols. By leveraging advancements in machine learning and automated anomaly detection, Material Security can accurately identify and classify sensitive content, such as CUI and PII, within emails and Google Drive. This enables organizations to quickly detect when controlled information is being shared externally or with unauthorized recipients.
For departments balancing security with operational efficiency, Material Security provides critical advantages:
- Automated Detection: Material Security continuously monitors shared documents to detect sensitive content, reducing the manual workload for IT teams.
- Real-time Alerts: When anomalous activity is detected—such as a sensitive document being shared with an unexpected recipient—the system immediately alerts the relevant parties.
- Adaptive Responses: Depending on the severity of the situation, actions can be automated, such as revoking access, sending notifications to document owners or managers, or initiating deeper reviews.
This combination of automation, intelligence, and human oversight ensures that sensitive documents remain protected, while business operations continue without unnecessary friction.
Material Security + Google Chronicle SOAR
To supercharge its capabilities and to align with existing government workflows, Material Security can seamlessly integrate with Google Workspace and harness the strength of Google Chronicle SOAR for orchestrating detection and response. Here’s how it works:
- Sensitive Data Detection: Material Security continuously scans Google Drive and Gmail for sensitive content, such as CUI, that might be shared externally. This automated process eliminates the need for manual review of every document, reducing the resource burden.
- Anomaly Detection: By leveraging advanced machine learning algorithms, Material Security can identify unusual document-sharing behaviors, such as a user who has never shared a particular type of document with a specific external recipient. The system flags such events as potential risks, triggering the appropriate response protocols.
- Incident Management with Chronicle SOAR: When a sensitive document is flagged for unusual activity, Material Security creates a case within Chronicle SOAR, Google’s Security Orchestration, Automation, and Response platform. This allows security teams to automate workflows that manage the remediation of security events. Whether it’s notifying a manager, revoking document access, or escalating the case for human review, Material Security ensures that the process is streamlined and efficient.
- Approval Workflows: To prevent unnecessary disruptions to business, Material Security enables custom approval workflows. If a shared document is flagged but is critical for ongoing business, the document owner or security team can quickly review and approve the sharing activity. This maintains operational continuity while ensuring that high-risk sharing is caught before it leads to a data breach.
- Remediation and Enforcement: In cases where the sharing of a sensitive document is unauthorized or violates corporate policy, Material Security can immediately revoke access, ensuring that potentially harmful sharing is halted in real-time.
Why This Matters for Your Agency or Business
Data security is no longer optional—it's a necessity. Striking a balance between strong security measures and operational efficiency can feel like an impossible task. Material Security bridges this gap. Whether your organization is a federal agency tasked with protecting CUI, a civilian agency securing PII or a system integrator managing proprietary business data, Material Security ensures that sensitive information remains secure without slowing down your team’s productivity.
By offering real-time protection, automated incident response, and scalable workflows, Material Security transforms document security from a cumbersome, reactive process to a seamless, proactive safeguard.
See Material Security in Action
Want to see how Material Security can transform the way you protect sensitive documents shared on Google Drive? The video below walks you through a scenario of granting access to a CUI document and how Material Security, paired with Google Chronicle SOAR, ensures compliance and mitigates risk.
Book a demo today to see how your organization can take control of sensitive document sharing, enhance security, and stay compliant—without slowing down essential operations.
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