IT Lesson

New security management features for domain users with the Admin SDK

We launched the Admin SDK in May as a new way for developers to build customized administrative tools for organizations that use Google Apps. A top priority for most administrators is keeping their users safe. Today, were adding new security management features to the Directory API to help administrators manage:

• Access granted by domain users to third-party applications
• Application specific passwords created by users
• Backup verification codes for users using 2-step verification.

These new utilities allow Google Apps administrators to programmatically manage end-user access to third party applications, and enable third party developers to build new security management features in their applications.

As an example, FlashPanel, a popular tool used by Google Apps administrators, is using these new features to allow domain admins to review installed applications and manage or revoke access to them. The Apps Explorer in FlashPanel allows admins to see which are the most installed apps in his domain or use a filter to review applications by type of permissions (Drive, GMail, etc). It also allows admins to review the number of users who have granted access to a particular application.

The screenshot below shows an example of FlashPanel’s customized view of third-party application installs.

In FlashPanel’s integration, admins have the power to whitelist or blacklist apps, as shown below.

The Directory API now also provides the ability to manage admin notifications that are delivered to the Admin Console. Currently, admins receive notifications for events that affect their domains such as users approaching their storage limits or monthly bills that are due. Now you can use the API to list notifications, update their read status, or pull them into custom tools.

If you are interested in using these new endpoints, please refer to the Directory API documentation.

Ajay Guwalani   Ajay Guwalani is Product Manager on Google Apps Admin APIs. His current focus is to build next generation admin APIs to make enterprise developers and admins happy.