Understanding the Security Sandbox in Gmail

Education Standard
Education Plus

The Security Sandbox is a crucial feature in Gmail that helps protect your email environment by inspecting attachments for malware. This article provides an overview of how the Security Sandbox works and includes a link to a video for a more detailed explanation. 

What is the Security Sandbox? 

The Security Sandbox is a virtual secure environment where email attachments are opened and inspected for malware. If an attachment contains malware, the email routes to the spam folder. If no malware is detected, the email gets delivered as usual. 

Licensing Requirements 

To use the Security Sandbox, you need to have a Plus or Standard license on your account. This feature will not function without the appropriate license. Additionally, you need to license all end users. If users are not licensed, the Security Sandbox will ignore them, and the feature will not work for their accounts. 

Setting Up the Security Sandbox 

1. Enable the Security Sandbox: Turn on the Security Sandbox to have it inspect all email attachments. 
   Apps > Google Workspace > Gmail > Spam, phishing, and malware ~ Security sandbox 
   
2. Create Quarantine Rules: Set up quarantine rules to divert malicious attachments away from end users. Quarantining ensures emails with malicious attachments are sent to quarantine rather than the spam folder. 
   Apps > Google Workspace > Gmail > Manage quarantines
   
3. Compliance Rules: Establish content compliance rules to manage how detected malware is handled. 
   Apps > Google Workspace > Gmail > Compliance~ Add Another Rule
   

Additional Tips 

Ensure all users are licensed to benefit from the Security Sandbox. 

Consider creating a spam bypass list to prevent important emails from being marked as spam.
Apps > Google Workspace > Gmail > Spam, phishing, and malware ~ Spam ~ Add Another Rule

Watch the Video 

The Security Sandbox was the topic for a recent Office Hours. Watch the video below.

Document Version	Date	Description of Change
1.0	11/14/2024	Draft - do not publish until after the 12/13/24 Office Hours
1.1	12/20/2024	Updated Video and published