Understanding Google Workspace Structure from a Cloud Forensics Lens

In this new series, we'll be diving deep into investigation and forensics within Google Workspace (the Google ecosystem). So tighten your seatbelt—let's go!

When diving into cloud forensics—especially in Google Workspace—there’s a lot more to unravel than just user credentials or login timestamps. One of the most overlooked but crucial areas is how permissions are managed within the environment.

let's break down two key building blocks of Google Workspace that matter a lot when you're investigating suspicious account behavior or responding to an incident:

👉 Organizational Units (OUs)

👉 Groups

Why OUs and Groups Matter in Forensics

Google Workspace has its own authentication and identity system, sure—but when you're trying to understand how and why a user had access to certain data or features, you need to look beyond just login logs.

That’s where Organizational Units (OUs) and Groups come in. These two are the backbone of how permissions are structured and managed in Workspace. And guess what? They can be used independently, so knowing how each works is essential for tracing how permissions are applied—or misapplied.

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Organizational Units (OUs): Think Department Bins

Let’s start with Organizational Units. Think of them like folders or containers that you put users into based on department, location, or job role. Every user account must belong to one—and only one—OU.

From an investigation perspective, this helps narrow things down:

If you know the user’s OU, you don’t have to search other units.

Also, OUs can be nested—meaning you can have child units inside parent ones. So a user could be in a sub-OU deep in the hierarchy, but they’ll still inherit permissions from the OUs above them. This inheritance is something to watch closely during an investigation.

Forensic Tip: OU Inheritance Can Create Hidden Access

If a user is in a deeply nested OU, don’t forget to trace all the inherited settings and permissions. You might find that access was granted not directly, but from higher up the chain

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One User, Many Groups — And Even More Permissions

Unlike OUs where a user can only belong to one, a single user account in Google Workspace can be part of multiple groups at the same time.

But here’s where things get interesting—and complicated:

Groups can contain other groups.

So if User A is in Group X, and Group X is inside Group Y, then User A indirectly inherits all permissions from Group Y too.

This is what we call inherited groups, and it’s an important concept for anyone doing incident response or auditing permissions.

Forensic Insight: Inherited Groups = Inherited Risk

Let’s say you have a group called "IT Users". It’s a member of both the "Log Access" and "Vault Access" groups. That means everyone in IT Users also inherits access to logs and vault data—even if that wasn’t the original intention.

This kind of setup is handy for streamlining permissions—but it can also accidentally over-provision users, which is something DFIR teams always need to watch out for.

Using Groups Smartly

Groups aren’t just for permissions. You can also use them for:

• Feature access control

• Mailing lists

• Managing shared resources (like calendars, drives, etc.)

Think of it like Microsoft’s Security Groups and Distribution Groups in Active Directory. In large organizations, using groups makes onboarding and permissioning way easier. You can just drop a new user into the right group and boom—they’ve got the correct access in seconds.

But this simplicity can be dangerous if you don’t track what each group actually allows.

Real-World Use: Google Drive Sharing Groups

Imagine this : You’ve got three groups set up for Google Drive sharing:

1. Internal Sharing Only

2. Sharing to Trusted Domains

3. Open Sharing (Anyone outside the org)

   
   

During a data breach, it’s so much easier to identify which group allowed risky sharing if these types of groups are clearly defined. You could simply yank a user out of the “Open Sharing” group, and the exfiltration risk goes down instantly.

This logic applies not just to Drive—but to all services in Google Workspace.

Group Roles: Owner, Manager, Member

Every group in Workspace has three roles:

• Owner: Full control—can add/remove members, change settings, etc.

• Manager: Can manage members, sometimes limited in changing settings

• Member: Just a regular part of the group

Forensics Tip:

The group owner isn’t always an IT admin. It could be a team lead, project manager, or anyone else. That means non-IT staff could be controlling access to sensitive groups, so always check who owns what.

Using Admin Console to Inspect Groups

Google makes it a bit easier to investigate with features like Inspect Groups, available in the Admin Console. With this, you can:

• See all groups assigned to a user

• Know whether group membership is direct or inherited

• Check which users belong to a specific group

For example:You might find that Akash is directly added to the “Vault Access” group but indirectly added to the “IT Users” group through another group membership.

That tells you how permissions were layered onto Akash's account.

Feature Alert: Only in Enterprise Plus or Cloud Identity Premium

Here’s the catch:

This level of detail—especially Inspect Groups and dynamic visibility—requires either:

• Enterprise Plus edition of Google Workspace, or

• The Cloud Identity Premium Edition add-on

If you’re in a budget-conscious environment, the add-on gives you solid forensic capabilities without needing the full Enterprise tier.

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Final Thoughts: Groups = Power and Risk

Groups are incredibly powerful, but also easy to overlook during forensic reviews. Always:

• Map direct vs inherited permissions

• Watch for non-admin group owners

• Audit who’s in which group and why

• Use features like Inspect Groups if your license supports it

Getting this right can help you detect, contain, and respond to incidents faster and smarter.

----------------------------------------------Dean-----------------------------------------------------

Stay with me—things are going to get more interesting in the upcoming articles!