Cyber Defense eMagazine February Edition for 2023

The three biggest points of pain
Quite simply, consumer-grade messaging apps are not fit for use in the workplace because the employer
cannot apply any of its controls and compliance needs on them.
Employee use of consumer messaging apps causes organizations three separate headaches around
transparency, inclusivity and data sovereignty.
1. Lack of transparency is of most immediate concern as that has drawn the attention of regulators.
For instance the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading
Commission (CFTC) have fined 16 US investment banks $2B as a result of employees’ use of
personal messaging apps, because the employer no longer has reliable oversight and record
keeping of business related discussion and decision-making. Concerns have been raised in other
countries like the UK, where the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) warned against
government officials using WhatsApp and personal email.
2. Meanwhile, a lack of admin control and integration with company systems is causing inclusivity
problems for executive leadership, HR teams and team leaders. With no oversight or
management from the company, employees are able to download a consumer-grade messaging
app. As there’s no interoperability between messaging apps, the workforce ends up fragmented
across different siloed apps. Even if employees were all in the same walled garden, with no admin
control it’s inevitable that team members are left out of certain groups; be that accident or
malevolent. Likewise, removing group chat access when an employee leaves is best not left to
chance.
3. The third significant problem is secure data management. A consumer-grade messaging app is
a one size fits all proposition. Neither the company or its workforce can specify where or how the
service is hosted. In the case of WhatsApp, it means all data is stored and managed on servers
owned by Meta - a company whose business model is based on mining its users’ data. It is not
where or how a company should choose to host its data. Neither would a responsible company
leave potentially vital discussion and data accessible only through two or three employees’
devices who happened to be part of that conversation at the time. End-to-end encryption
undoubtedly improves security, but it severely impacts data management if the company has no
control over it.
Enterprise messaging apps can transform the workplace.
Employees quite rightly view consumer messaging apps as a way to speed communication and improve
productivity. Yet from the organization’s point of view, the risk far outstrips the gain.
The solution lies in a messaging app built for enterprises. It should allow the company to own and
configure the platform, including where and how to host the service. It would also give the company
complete admin control over the platform; the provisioning and deprovisioning of employees,
management of chat room hierarchies, record keeping, antivirus and all the rest of it. Essentially, an
enterprise-grade messaging platform provides all the enterprise control and functionality that’s taken for
granted with corporate email.
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