Google Cloud session management provides flexible options for setting up session controls based on your organization’s security policy needs. To help you improve your security posture and mitigate credential theft and account takeover (ATO) risks, we have rolled out a 16-hour default session length for Google Cloud customers. We’ve now completed extending this security standard to all customers who had not already self-configured session lengths, but today’s cloud environments require even more precision.
As we conclude this global rollout, we have also evolved Google Cloud session controls from a broad administrative setting into a deeply integrated, granular feature of Context-Aware Access (CAA). This update gives administrators more flexibility, better automation, and a more natural security workflow. Automation-first: Terraform, gcloud, and API support Modern infrastructure is managed as code. To support DevSecOps workflows, the Session Controls policy configuration is no longer limited to manual UI configuration.
Now generally available, you can define, deploy, and manage your session policies programmatically using: Terraform : Integrates session controls directly into your infrastructure manifests. REST APIs : Automate policy enforcement across complex multi-tenant environments. Granular targeting with Google Groups One of the most requested upgrades has been the capability to target policies with precision. Previously, session lengths were tied to organizational units (OUs). Now generally available, the Session Controls policy uses Google Groups.
This shift allows you to apply distinct session policies to specific clusters of users — such as requiring a two-hour session for users with elevated privileges (such as billing administrators and project owners) while maintaining a standard 16-hour session for general developers — regardless of where those users sit in your organizational hierarchy. Precision application controls Instead of a blanket policy that affects every application requiring Google Cloud API scopes, Session Controls policy allows you to configure session controls to specific applications.