Compliance Archiving for Google Chat

Overview

Nuclei provides Google customers with the ability to automatically export and archive all communications occurring within Google Chat, including:  

• Direct Messages
• Room Messages
• App Messages
• Message Reactions
• Membership Changes

As a first step, third-party archiving must be configured in the Google Workspace admin portal. Afterwards, Nuclei will automatically export Google Chat messages into your existing compliance archive. 

Prerequisites

• Google Workspace Enterprise
• Google Workspace Education Fundamentals
• Google Workspace Education Plus

Scope

Google Chat 

Chat messages sent between Google Chat users are supported for archiving. The following types of metadata are supported for each message:

• Space ID
• Participant Email Address
• Message Date / Time 
• Message ID
• Message Text
• Message Type (Direct Message, Room)

The following additional types of metadata are also supported for each message participant:

• Participant Display Name
• Participant Email Address

Google Chat message archiving can be configured for all users within the Google Workspace organization, or for a child organizational unit. 

Supported Archives

The following archiving destinations are supported for Google Chat archiving:

• ACA ComplianceAlpha
• Dell EMC SourceOne
• Global Relay Archive
• Microsoft Purview
• Mimecast Cloud Archive
• Proofpoint Enterprise Archive
• Smarsh Digital Safe
• Smarsh Enterprise Archive
• Smarsh Professional Archive
• Veritas Enterprise Vault
• ZL Unified Archive

Getting Setup

Nuclei

Before enabling archiving in Google Workspace you must create a new feed:

1. Login to https://app.nuclei.ai 
2. Select "Configuration" > "Sources"
3. Select "New"
4. Select "Source Type", then select "Google Chat"
5. Add a "Description" to the feed
6. Leave the "Delivery address" blank
7. Select "Save"

You will need the automatically generated delivery address in the Google Workspace configuration. 

Google Workspace

To enable archiving you must configure third-party chat archiving in Google Workspace: 

1. Login to https://admin.google.com 
2. Select "Apps" > "Google Workspace" > "Google Chat"
3. Select "Configure" next to "Third-party Archiving Settings"
4. Select "Users", "Groups", or "Organizational Units" to selectively configure chat archiving settings as desired. 
5. Select "Archiving Enabled" 
6. Enter the delivery address you created in the first step. 
7. For "Archival Frequency", enter "1"
8. Select "Save"

You must also turn chat history on for the organization:

1. Login to https://admin.google.com 
2. Select "Apps" > "Google Workspace" > "Google Chat"
3. Select "History for chats"
4. Select "Users", "Groups", or "Organizational Units" to selectively configure chat history settings as desired. 
5. Select "History is ON"
6. Ensure "Allow users to change their history setting" is disabled. 
7. Select "Save"

Uninstallation 

To disable archiving:

1. Disable "Third-party Archiving Settings"
2. Disable "Capture Enabled" in the Nuclei source configuration. 

Resources

Google Workspace Admin - Integrate chat with a third-party archiving solution

Google Workspace Admin - Turn chat history on or off for an organization

More Information

For more information on Compliance Archiving for Google Chat and for a demonstration of related capabilities, please contact Nuclei's sales team at hello@nuclei.ai.