Why choosing a secure messaging platform is crucial for businesses

According to a recent report by Enterprise CIO, it was revealed that WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger are one of the most banned software technologies used in businesses today. One of the key reasons being that the majority of these banned apps were flagged by Appthority for data leakage, as well as vulnerabilities such as disabling default HTTPS encryption.

If we talk about WhatsApp Messenger, for instance, the messaging platform has a relatively high-risk score of 7 out of 10 in terms of data leakage on both iOS and Android platforms. According to the portal, social media platform Facebook shares the same risk score, despite it being slightly less popular among enterprises.

Don’t leave your company vulnerable by using WhatsApp or Messenger for work

Organizations are constantly worried about lax security on the messaging platforms that their employees use. In the first half of 2019 itself, over 4 billion records were exposed in data breaches. Confidential company information like links to internal files, audit reports, etc. are at a risk of being hijacked and shared as employees use consumer-grade messaging apps or simple texts to collaborate without giving this a second thought.

Businesses that fall under the small and medium scale (SMBs) should be equally wary of these insecure apps as compared to large enterprises. If you work in or own an SMB, take a step back and reflect on how much private financial and operational information is being shared every day over texts and via WhatsApp. It is not just about security, there are other downsides of using a consumer messaging tool for business.

Use of insecure apps start at the top

According to a survey conducted by Flock among 500 small US-based business owners and leaders, it was revealed that the more senior you are, the more likely you are to be using informal messaging tools such as texts and WhatsApp to communicate. CEOs and founders are 10% more likely to use informal messaging tools compared to managers!

So if you are leading your business, there are very high chances that you may be the source of potential security breaches for your business!

Startups use informal messaging more than regular SMBs

It is indeed surprising to know that budding tech-savvy startups have a higher rate of usage of informal messaging tools than established businesses. Another interesting fact is that while 37% of startups reported using messaging tools like Slack, 56% also use informal messaging tools such as texts and WhatsApp to communicate. So why is this a big deal?

Should SMBs trust WhatsApp or Messenger to keep them secure?

SMBs, be it a startup or not are especially susceptible to security breaches due to their shorter technology adoption curve. Since a lot of times, SMBs lack the budget and technical expertise to combat such breaches, the consequences of such incidents are exceptionally damaging to these businesses.

A lot of SME leaders due to their small scale of business don't realize the risk they are at when sharing data and information on generic communication platforms. The recent WhatsApp breach is a testimony to the fact that as it’s not meant for enterprise use. SMBs should shift to a secure platform which has been specially built for business and workplace communication. On such platforms, you have complete control over what information is shared and exchanged as well as you can be sure that your data is 100% secure.

Secure team communication software is accessible, even for SMBs

SMBs for team communication, should consider moving away from texts or other consumer messaging tools and try using a business messaging solution that is designed for security. On top of keeping your business communication secure, you will be pleasantly surprised to find that these tools also aid in improving team collaboration.

Along with security, these collaboration software platforms also offer productivity and efficiency benefits. Modern business messaging tools offer more features for group chat - such as the ability to create open or private channels for specific topics and projects, video conferencing and screen sharing, file tracking, and note-taking. What’s better, messages and channels are searchable so you can trackback to a file or conversation from earlier in the month, something that’s very hard to do with texts.

By Devashish Sharma, Chief Technology Officer, Flock