Google Workspace vs Microsoft 365 audit: what changes and what stays the same

By the QuantumSec team

Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 solve the same problem —email, identity and collaboration in the cloud— but with different architectures. Auditing one or the other shares principles, but the specific vectors and tools change. This guide explains the differences so you know what to expect from each audit.

What both audits share

In both cases, the audit focuses on identity (MFA, least privilege, admins), third-party app control (OAuth), file sharing, persistence via mail rules and detection capability. The offensive approach —thinking like an attacker and chaining vectors— is identical, as is the use of the CIS Benchmarks as a framework.

Identity: Entra ID vs Google Identity

Microsoft 365 relies on Entra ID (Azure AD), with conditional access, PIM and app registrations/service principals. Google Workspace uses its own identity with Context-Aware Access and domain-wide delegation. The concepts are analogous, but the failure points and audit tools differ.

Platform-specific vectors

In Microsoft 365, the standouts are AiTM phishing with token theft, illicit app consent and Entra ID abuse. In Google Workspace, OAuth consent phishing and, above all, domain-wide delegation (DeleFriend), which allows impersonating any user from GCP. Each platform has its signature vector.

How to choose and what to ask for

If your company uses only one of the two, audit that one. If you use both (increasingly common), it's advisable to audit both and, above all, their integration points. In any case, demand an executive and technical report, a map of apps and permissions, and a hardening checklist based on the corresponding platform's CIS Benchmark.

FAQ

Is Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace more secure?

Neither is inherently more secure: both have a solid baseline and incidents almost always come from the customer's configuration, not the platform. What makes the difference is how well your tenant is hardened and audited.

Can you audit both environments at once?

Yes. We apply the same offensive methodology to Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, and we pay special attention to the integrations between them and with the cloud (GCP/Azure) when they coexist.