Is Slack encrypted? How secure are the messages and meetings held on the collaboration platform, and can you really trust Slack to protect your data?
In the evolving world of work, collaboration tools like Slack have become essential for synchronizing and aligning teams. But as messaging and meeting platforms become the central landscape for shared data and knowledge, businesses are increasingly concerned about security.
A Slack security breach wouldn’t just impact team productivity in today’s world. It could also mean businesses risk losing or leaking huge volumes of crucial data. Most messaging apps and collaboration tools have responded to the rising need for security in recent years. Virtually all meeting tools, from Zoom to Google Meet, now feature extensive encryption and security features.
However, Slack is the odd one out. Despite improvements to its security and compliance standards in recent years, Slack still needs a few essential safety features for businesses.
Here’s everything you need to know about Slack encryption in 2023.
Is Slack Encrypted? The Slack Encryption Standards
Encryption is an essential feature for any collaboration app. It protects business data from third parties by giving each person’s device a “digital key” it can use to unlock a message. So, are Slack messages encrypted? The answer is a little complex.
Slack says it encrypts all messages and data at rest and in transit for every customer, whether you have a free or paid plan. The collaboration company also implements various other measures to keep business communications secure. It offers single sign-on support, domain claiming, e-discovery tools, and data loss prevention integrations.
Slack also offers governance and risk management capabilities to Teams. Companies can set their retention policies, set up custom terms of service (on some plans), and utilize audit logs. Plus, business leaders on Slack can assign team members different roles for access management.
It’s possible to leverage two-factor authentication and user and group provisioning strategies via SCIM with the Slack service. All of this sounds incredibly promising – but there’s a problem. Slack doesn’t offer end-to-end encryption.
Is Slack Fully Encrypted? Slack End-to-End Encryption
While Slack does offer basic encryption for its messaging and collaboration tools, it hasn’t implemented end-to-end encryption. This means a data breach that affects Slack could be potentially disastrous for users, giving hackers full access to private messages.
According to a former Slack employee in an interview with Vice, enterprises paying for the Slack service haven’t previously prioritized end-to-end encryption. By avoiding end-to-end encryption, Slack allows companies more control over monitoring their teams.
Lack of end-to-end encryption is a double-edged sword for the collaboration company. It allows compliance with federal record-keeping laws on an enterprise level.
However, it also means the platform is more vulnerable to attackers. We’ve already seen examples of how significant data breaches on Slack can be in the past. Even major companies like EA lost 780 GB of data in a data breach, and Slack itself suffered a major breach in 2021 when its Android app was compromised.
According to Slack, previous enterprise companies using the app were more concerned about “Enterprise Key Management” than E2E encryption. Slack offers this with its EKM services, allowing organizations to control their keys for internal investigations, compliance, and auditing. However, it seems business priorities are changing.
In June this year, over 90 companies signed a letter asking Slack to implement end-to-end encryption and enhance its privacy features.
How Vulnerable is Slack without End-to-End Encryption?
So, does a lack of end-to-end encryption mean Slack is unsuitable for business communications? Not necessarily. As mentioned above, Slack does take security and safety seriously. Slack allows clients to manage users and groups, assign roles and permissions, and leverage data protection tools.
Slack also boasts several compliance certifications, from ISO/IEC 27001, 27017, 27018, and 27701 to SOC 2 and 3, CSA, and more. The app is also HIPAA, FINRA, FedRAMP, and GDPR certified. It definitely checks a lot of boxes for compliance.
Slack also has its own “bug bounty program.” This means it invites anyone to report vulnerabilities they find within the platform in exchange for a reward. This allows Slack to rapidly discover and patch weaknesses in the ecosystem before they’re exploited.
Slack also offers the following:
- SAML-based single sign-on
- Session duration management
- Two-factor authentication
- Mobile device management
- Enterprise mobility management
- Default browser control
- Message and file download blocking
- Data loss prevention
Plus, Slack integrates with various security and compliance vendor tools, allowing companies to expand their security processes.
The company also added enterprise key management to its ecosystem in 2019, giving administrators more control over how information is shared on a granular level. However, these features might not be a true replacement for full end-to-end encryption.
Is Slack Less Secure than Teams, Zoom, or Webex?
If you’re asking, “Is Slack encrypted?” security is probably a core concern for your business. Compared to other popular collaboration tools, Slack might not provide the same level of protection. While it offers many of the same features as tools like Teams, Zoom, and Webex, all of these other platforms offer end-to-end encryption.
Microsoft Teams provides end-to-end encryption for all messages and calls and offers businesses a variety of zero-trust compliance and security tools with Microsoft Purview. Zoom introduced end-to-end encryption in 2020 as part of an evolving security strategy. This allows anyone to turn on E2E on the account level within a business.
Webex also takes a zero-trust approach to security, with end-to-end encryption and robust identity verification for meetings and chats. The lack of Slack encryption on a comprehensive level may be one of the few things forcing it to fall behind its competitors.
Is Slack Secure? Tips for Protecting Your Business
Slack isn’t necessarily a dangerous tool for business collaboration and communication. The company says it’s constantly reviewing and updating its security standards based on customer feedback. Plus, it offers many security, privacy, and compliance tools team leaders would expect from a messaging tool.
However, companies may need to implement additional safety measures to keep Slack fully secure. To keep the risk of data breaches to a minimum, business leaders should:
- Avoid sharing confidential information: Since Slack doesn’t offer end-to-end encryption, any personal information shared on the platform is subject to theft. To stay compliant, consider implementing policies about the type of information that should and shouldn’t be shared in Slack channels.
- Use two-factor authentication: Multi-factor authentication is one possible way to sidestep some of the security issues experienced on Slack. Enabling two-factor authentication means criminals should have difficulty accessing Slack accounts with just login credentials. Fortunately, Slack makes it relatively easy to implement 2FA via your account settings.
- Manage employee onboarding and offboarding: Keeping track of which users can access Slack is crucial. Companies should implement a documented process for managing Slack access. Ensure any employees removed from the workspace also lose access to their Slack data and implement the right EMM strategies.
- Utilize access management controls: Use Slack’s identity and device management tools to control which employees can access data in your ecosystem. You can also use Slack Connect to invite guests to Slack channels without giving them full access to data.
- Use third-party integrations carefully: While Slack’s integrations can be helpful to Teams, they’re not all as secure as they seem. Examine the security credentials of every application added to Slack, and avoid any insecure tools.
- Defend against phishing attempts: Slack has fallen victim to phishing attempts in the past, and this problem is only growing in the collaboration world. Business leaders should ensure they have strategies to educate teams about phishing attacks and reduce the risk of staff members accessing dangerous files.
Is Slack Safe for Business Collaboration?
Slack’s lack of end-to-end encryption has generated concern among business users. While the basic answer to “Is Slack encrypted” may be “yes, ” the platform isn’t as secure as it could be. This doesn’t mean Slack doesn’t have security and compliance features in place. Slack still delivers many of the protections businesses need from a collaboration app.
However, without end-to-end encryption, Slack may not be capable of fully protecting its enterprise users as security threats continue to evolve. Until Slack changes its stance on end-to-end encryption, business leaders should be cautious about how their teams share data on the platform.
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