How to Secure G Suite Data after Employee Leaves the Organization?

Are you securing your organization’s data after an employee leaves? Is security is 100%? Just changing the passwords of the email id isn’t enough. According to recent studies, most of the data breaches or outsourcing of data are not from hackers but by the employee recently left the organization. That’s why, here I am going to provide all the tips to secure Google Workspace when an employee leaves.

In corporate companies, the procedure of employee termination is a huge task. From documentation of performance and other tasks to the finalization. Between the procedure, securing their Google account is an important step. If you neglect this, then the company may have to face a huge loss in the form of a data breach. Other than preventing breaches, securing the account also helps in many situations.

Reasons to Secure Google Workspace Offboarding Accounts

• Saving the data of an ex-employee in a secure place helps to prevent the access of unauthorised users and stop them from misusing the data.
• Sensitive company and client data are often saved in My Drive rather than Shared Drive to prevent leaks of financial, HR, and customer information.
• There comes a time when they want the ex-employee data. So, by backing up their account, you can easily retain the data anytime.
• Most industries need long-term email or file retention to help in maintaining audit trails.

These are the common factors where a company has to secure its Google account for an offboarding employee.

Google Workspace Employee Leaving Checklist

Before you go through the methods to secure the terminated employee’s account. It is necessary to understand the checklist for employee offboarding.

1. First, suspend the user account of the ex-employee. This is because deleting the account leads to the removal of all their Gmail, Drive, and other Workspace data permanently.
2. The employee still has the credentials for their account. So, reset the Google account so that they don’t log back into the account.
3. Move the data of the employee from My Drive to the Shared or Manager Drive. This is because the employees mostly store their data in the My Drive. You will lose the Drive data when you remove the account.
4. Important emails, contacts, and calendar data are still in the employee’s Gmail. So, export them to a safe place.
5. If the employee handles the organization-level resource, transfer the ownership to another employee. So, the work will run smoothly.
6. After safely exporting and migrating the users’ data. Now, carefully delete the employee’s account.

These are the practical steps that you use when an employee leaves, and you have to close their G Suite account.

Secure Ex-Employee Account By Migrating Their G Suite Data

Data is the most crucial thing for any organization. Each employee’s data may come in use, even after the employee leaves the organization. The data they have collected can be of use in the future. That’s why many organizations transfer the data to another account for safekeeping. Generally, there are two methods for the migration:

• Using Google Data Migration Service
• Using the Professional Migration Tool

I will properly explain these methods with clear steps.

Migrate G Suite Data Using Data Migration Service

This is the migration platform that Google Workspace (G Suite) Admins can use to transfer data from one account to another account or domain. It is free to use, but the method requires high technical knowledge for the migration. Additionally, using this method, it is not possible to transfer emails, contacts, and calendars at the same time.

1. Go to Google Admin Console and log in using Admin credentials.
2. Now, from the Menu, choose the Data option. Then, click Data import & export button. Select the Data Migration (New).
3. Choose the Email option and then Google Workspace as the migration source.
4. Apply a filter by the selective migration start date and migration options. Also, select the migration options to migrate a particular mailbox >> select user
5. In the data migration window, there are two options for mapping: Add User and Bulk Upload CSV
6. Add User: This option is used to transfer single-user account data. Enter the source user email ID, and in the next field, provide its password.
7. Bulk Upload CSV Option – Create a CSV file and enter the Google Workspace Email (destination account), Source Email id, and Password. Provide the above details for each user account.
8. After you click on the Start button, the migration of G Suite data will begin.

This method is free, but if you want to move other types of data like contacts, calendar, and Drive. Then, you can use the professional tool.

Transfer Ex Employee Data Using Professional Software

The professional tool is a much easier and safer way to migrate the G Suite data of multiple employees. SysTools G Suite to G Suite Migration Tool is one of the best software tools that can easily move your emails, contacts, calendars, and other Drive data. With this, you can easily move complete data with the proper permission levels. Download the software for Windows and Linux operating systems, and below are the steps.

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Working of Professional Solution

1. After downloading the tool, run the tool on Windows 10/Server 2012/2016.
2. From the Source and Destination tab, choose “G Suite” in both.
   
3. To secure a complete G Suite account, select all categories and filtering options for migration.
   
4. In the Source tab, enter the Admin Id, and Application id for G Suite as Source. After that, click on the validate button to authenticate the project settings.
   
5. For the Destination tab, again enter Admin Id, Application id for G Suite as Destination, & validate it also.
   
6. Choose the Fetch User option or the Import CSV option for mapping source and destination Ids.
7. After validation is finished, click on the Start Migration button to begin the process.
   

Here are the ways to migrate your Google Workspace, leaving employee data. But is migration the only way to secure the terminated employee account?

Should You Delete, Archive, or Suspend Ex-Employee Account?

When an employee leaves, organizations have three options left: Suspend, Archive, or Delete the account. These options sound the same. But they have different purposes, and using them incorrectly can lead to data loss, security issues, or unnecessary licensing costs. To help you, I am going to explain their roles and when you should need it.

Suspend the Account (First Step of Employee Offboarding Checklist)

When you don’t want to delete the account, but it blocks the user from logging in. Then, you can use suspension. This will keep all your data intact, retain the license, and only allow admins to access and transfer the data.

It is best used when you have to immediately remove the accesss, protect the security while offboarding, and other cases where you still require the data. Therefore, it is the safest first action when an employee leaves. As it freezes the user account, the admin can take a backup of their emails, transfer files, and review the activity logs.

Archive the Account

It is simple. Here you are moving the user data to another safe account. It is best used when you have to retain long-term data for legal and HR, keep the mailbox or drive data without active login, and if you want to reduce the license cost. It is better than deleting the account because it is cheaper, safer, and required for industries with retention policies.

Delete Account (Only After Taking Data Backup)

This option is last after transfer drive ownership, backup email, apply vault retention, confirm admin, and Team approval. As you can see, this option removes Gmail, Drive, Calendar, and Contacts permanently. Your account frees up the paid license and cannot be undone after 20 days.

Conclusion

Securing your organizational data is a top priority. It is the duty of the G Suite Admin to secure and migrate the G Suite data of a leaving employee. In this blog, we have listed the measures that need to be taken after an employee leaves your organization. We have provided two solutions to secure the G Suite account. It is recommended to use a professional solution that provides greater flexibility and ease during the migration of data.