We Need to Talk … About Team Chat App Security

Feb 1, 2017 | messaging security, Press, Products, slack

SearchUnified Communications has written about GreatHorn customer charity: water and their use of our Messaging Security solution in protecting their Slack users.

To minimize charity: water’s risk, Cook decided to participate in Slack’s beta of GreatHorn, a web-based security tool that “wraps around” the team chat app. Using GreatHorn, Cook matches acceptable use policies to filters that alert him when security rules might have been violated. For instance, if a user puts language related to tax forms or wire transfers into Slack, he receives an immediate notification and can contact the user.

“We’ve been lucky so far. We haven’t had any serious threats via Slack,” Cook said. “But I am staying vigilant to protect the organization and to make sure we stay in compliance.”

Read the full article on SearchUnified Communications >> 

The Next Target for Phishing and Fraud: ChatOps

Sep 23, 2016 | messaging security, phishing, Products, slack

Implementing a robust communications security strategy means looking beyond email to the other cloud-based communication channels used by employees – including messaging and collaboration tools like Slack, for example. GreatHorn’s CEO, Kevin O’Brien, writes the security risks of ChatOps tools in Network World:

Enterprise chat applications have surged in popularity, driven in large part by Slack, which now claims to serve more than three million users daily.  What’s more, the popularity of these apps has given rise to a new phenomenon known as ChatOps, which is what happens when these new messaging systems are used to automate operational tasks.

The ChatOps term was coined by GitHub to describe a collaboration model that connects people, tools, processes and automation into a transparent workflow.  According to Sean Regan, Atlassian’s Head of Product Marketing for HipChat, this flow connects the work needed, the work happening and the work done in a consistent location staffed by people, bots and related tools.  Its transparent nature hastens the feedback loop, facilitates information sharing, and enhances team collaboration, but also ushers in a new set of challenges for securityand risk professionals. Read the full article at Network World >>