Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 have made running a small business significantly easier. Email, calendars, documents, spreadsheets, file storage, video meetings, and collaboration can all happen in the cloud without maintaining an office full of servers. And both platforms invest heavily in security. But there’s an important distinction: Google and Microsoft can secure their cloud platforms without protecting your business from everything that happens inside them.
If an employee gives away their password, accidentally deletes important information, approves a malicious application, or sends money to someone impersonating your CEO, the cloud platform itself hasn’t necessarily failed. Understanding what Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 don’t protect you from can help you close some of the most important cloud security gaps facing small businesses.
Are Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 Secure?
Yes. Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 provide businesses with robust cloud infrastructure and a wide range of built-in security capabilities. But asking whether the platforms are secure is only half the question. You also need to ask: Is our business using them securely?
Cloud security follows a shared responsibility model. Microsoft and Google protect the infrastructure that delivers their services, while your business remains responsible for many aspects of account security, user access, device security, data protection, and employee behavior. That means subscribing to Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace doesn’t automatically create a complete cybersecurity program. Here are some of the risks that still belong on your radar.
1. Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace Can’t Stop Every Phishing Attack
Both platforms include protections designed to identify spam, phishing, malicious links, and suspicious messages. But no email security system catches everything. Modern phishing attacks are increasingly designed to look like normal business communication. Attackers may impersonate:
- Customers
- Vendors
- Executives
- Banks
- Shipping companies
- Microsoft or Google themselves
Some messages don’t even contain malicious attachments. They simply convince the recipient to take an action. An employee might be directed to a fake Microsoft 365 login page, for example, where they unknowingly hand their credentials directly to an attacker. Email security can reduce exposure to phishing, but it can’t eliminate the need for employee security awareness and additional safeguards.
2. They Can’t Protect You From Every Stolen Password
Microsoft and Google can provide secure authentication systems. They can’t stop an employee from reusing the same password on an unrelated website. If that website is breached and the credentials are exposed, attackers may try the same email address and password on Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and other business applications. This is commonly known as credential stuffing.
Phishing can also give attackers legitimate usernames and passwords. That’s why password security shouldn’t rely on employees simply creating passwords that are “hard to guess.” Businesses should combine unique passwords, password management, and multi-factor authentication (MFA) to make stolen credentials less useful to attackers.
3. They Can’t Prevent Employees From Approving the Wrong MFA Request
Multi-factor authentication is one of the most effective ways to strengthen cloud account security. But MFA isn’t magic. Attackers may repeatedly send authentication requests hoping a distracted employee eventually approves one. Other social engineering techniques may attempt to convince users that an authentication request is legitimate.
Employees need to understand that an unexpected MFA request is a warning sign, not an annoying notification to approve so it goes away. The technology provides the security control. Your employees still play a role in using it safely.
4. They Don’t Automatically Fix Excessive User Permissions
Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace give administrators tools for controlling access. Your business still has to decide who should have access to what. Over time, permissions can accumulate.
An employee changes roles but keeps their old access. Someone receives administrative privileges for a temporary project and never loses them. A shared folder that originally had five users eventually has fifteen.
This creates unnecessary risk. Following the principle of least privilege means employees receive only the access they need to perform their jobs. If an account is compromised, good permission management can significantly limit what an attacker can access.
5. They Can’t Offboard Your Former Employees for You
When someone leaves your company, Google and Microsoft don’t know whether that employee should still have access to company resources. Your business has to tell them.
A proper employee offboarding process should address access to:
- Shared files
- Cloud storage
- Calendars
- Third-party applications
- Administrative accounts
- Company devices
Forgetting even one account can leave an unnecessary security gap. This is why employee onboarding and offboarding should be treated as IT and cybersecurity processes, not just HR checklists.
6. They Can’t Protect You From Every Business Email Compromise Scam
One of the most dangerous threats facing businesses doesn’t require ransomware or malware at all. Business email compromise (BEC) attacks use impersonation or compromised email accounts to trick employees into taking actions such as:
- Paying fraudulent invoices
- Changing vendor banking information
- Transferring money
- Purchasing gift cards
- Sharing confidential information
The email may look completely legitimate because, in some cases, it actually comes from a compromised legitimate account.
Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace can provide security controls that help detect suspicious activity, but technology alone can’t verify every business request. Businesses also need processes for independently verifying sensitive financial or account changes.
A phone call to a known number can sometimes be one of your most effective cybersecurity tools. Very sophisticated. Very high-tech. Also, still a phone call.
7. Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace Aren’t Complete Backup Strategies
This is one of the most important misconceptions for small businesses. Microsoft and Google maintain highly redundant infrastructure and provide various retention, versioning, and recovery capabilities depending on the service and configuration. But redundancy is not the same thing as an independent backup designed around your business’s recovery requirements.
Consider what could happen if:
- An employee accidentally deletes important information
- A compromised account intentionally removes data
- Files are corrupted
- Data loss isn’t discovered until after a recovery window
- You need to restore information to an earlier point in time
Your business should know exactly what can be recovered, how long recovery options remain available, and how quickly critical information can be restored. If Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace contains information your business can’t afford to lose, an independent cloud backup can provide an additional recovery layer.
8. They Can’t Secure an Infected or Unmanaged Computer
Your cloud environment doesn’t exist in isolation. Employees access it through laptops, desktops, phones, tablets, and browsers. If those endpoints aren’t properly secured, they can create another path to your cloud data.
A business computer should have appropriate protections such as:
- Current security updates
- Endpoint protection
- Device monitoring
- Encryption where appropriate
- Secure access controls
This is why cloud security and endpoint security shouldn’t be treated as separate projects. Your cloud accounts are only one part of the environment attackers may target.
9. They Can’t Stop Employees From Sharing Data Inappropriately
Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 are designed for collaboration. That’s one of their greatest strengths. It’s also something businesses need to manage carefully.
An employee might:
- Create a broadly accessible sharing link
- Share a sensitive file with the wrong person
- Give an outside contractor ongoing access
- Download company information onto an unmanaged device
- Send confidential data to a personal account
The platforms provide controls for managing sharing, but your business needs policies and configurations that determine how those controls are used. Convenience and security need to coexist.
10. They Don’t Automatically Secure Every Third-Party SaaS Application
Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace often become the center of a much larger cloud ecosystem. Employees may connect their accounts to:
- CRMs
- Scheduling tools
- Project management platforms
- Marketing applications
- AI tools
- Productivity apps
- Browser extensions
Some of these applications request access to email, calendars, contacts, files, or other company information. If employees can authorize applications without appropriate oversight, your cloud environment can accumulate third-party connections nobody is actively monitoring. Your Google or Microsoft account may be secure while an authorized third-party application creates the vulnerability. That’s why SaaS security and application access management are becoming increasingly important for small businesses.
11. They Can’t Replace Employee Cybersecurity Training
Technology can filter suspicious messages, require MFA, generate alerts, and restrict access. But employees still make security decisions every day. They decide whether to:
- Click a link
- Open an attachment
- Approve an MFA request
- Share a document
- Respond to an unusual financial request
- Report suspicious activity
Security awareness training helps employees recognize phishing, social engineering, business email compromise, and other threats that technology may not completely eliminate. The goal isn’t to turn employees into cybersecurity professionals. It’s to give them enough knowledge to recognize when something deserves a second look.
What Does a Secure Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace Environment Need?
For a small business, improving cloud security doesn’t mean adding every security tool available. It means building layers around the risks that matter. A stronger cloud security strategy may include:
- Multi-factor authentication
- Password management
- Advanced email security
- Endpoint protection
- Security awareness training
- Appropriate user permissions
- Standardized employee onboarding and offboarding
- Cloud backup and recovery
- Third-party SaaS application monitoring
- Suspicious activity alerts
- Regular security reviews
No single layer is expected to stop every threat. That’s the point.
If a phishing email gets through, employee training may stop the click. If the employee clicks, endpoint or email security may help contain the threat. If credentials are stolen, MFA may prevent access. If data is lost, a backup may make recovery possible. Good cybersecurity assumes individual defenses can fail and builds additional layers behind them.
Why Small Businesses Need Ongoing Cloud Management
For a company with 5, 10, or 20 computers, managing all of this can become surprisingly complicated. Employees join and leave. Permissions change. New applications get connected. Devices are replaced. Security features evolve. The biggest cloud security problem often isn’t that a small business chose the wrong platform. It’s that nobody is consistently responsible for managing the environment after it was set up.
Managed IT provides that ownership. Instead of assuming Microsoft or Google is handling everything, your business has someone actively managing accounts, devices, security controls, backups, alerts, and access.
Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace are powerful platforms for small businesses. But neither eliminates the need for cybersecurity. Microsoft and Google can protect their infrastructure. They can provide sophisticated security features. They can give your business tools for controlling access and protecting information. They cannot make every security decision for you. Your business still needs to protect its employees, accounts, devices, applications, permissions, and data. The cloud didn’t eliminate IT security responsibility. It changed what you’re responsible for protecting.