{"id":3065,"date":"2022-10-13T10:30:13","date_gmt":"2022-10-13T17:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.golinks.com\/blog\/?p=3065"},"modified":"2024-10-16T23:41:23","modified_gmt":"2024-10-17T06:41:23","slug":"secure-collaboration-tools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.golinks.com\/blog\/secure-collaboration-tools\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Secure Collaboration Tools Your IT Team Will Approve of"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Even before the pandemic forced workplaces into the cloud, collaboration tools were popular among employees. For years now, apps like Microsoft Teams and Slack have helped teams streamline their workflows, keeping employees from spending hours a week<\/a> hunting down data or unnecessarily repeating their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the same collaboration tools that employees love often present security threats to the companies they work for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Skyhigh Security, less than 10 percent of the cloud-based apps most commonly used by enterprises meet enterprise security and privacy requirements<\/a>. And that lack of security has very real costs for businesses: according to IBM, the average cost of a data breach<\/a> hit $9.44 million in the United States this year. These breaches are no longer rare occurrences, either: 70 percent of organizations hosting data in the public cloud say they\u2019ve experienced a security incident<\/a> in the last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everybody wants to increase collaboration and communication at work \u2014 but that shouldn\u2019t come at the cost of data security. Below, we\u2019ll explain exactly what to look out for when judging an app\u2019s security, then share a few of our favorite secure collaboration tools that increase productivity\u2026 without giving any IT teams a heart attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How can you tell if an app is secure?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A good place to start when evaluating a tool\u2019s security is to think about security risks. According to G2, the most common security threats presented by software<\/a> are data breaches, identity theft, insider threats, and phishing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below, we\u2019ll explain what each threat entails, and the specific features you should look for to keep them at bay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data breaches & identity theft<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When a data breach<\/a> occurs, unauthorized third parties gain access to your company or your client’s confidential information. This usually occurs when hackers find vulnerabilities in your security systems. If hackers are able to access clients\u2019 or employees\u2019 personal information in these breaches, identity theft becomes a risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data encryption<\/strong><\/a> is generally the first line of defense against data breaches. When data is encrypted, it\u2019s essentially illegible unless the person accessing the data has the right \u201ckey\u201d to decipher the encrypted information. So even if hackers exploit a vulnerability in your security systems, they\u2019ll have a hard time accessing sensitive information if it\u2019s encrypted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Insider threats<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, not all of the threats to your company\u2019s security are external. In 2021, 94 percent of organizations experienced insider data breaches<\/a>: the access of data by current or former employees, contractors, vendors, or business partners who have been granted access to an organization\u2019s systems. Most of the time, this access takes place accidentally<\/a> rather than maliciously. For instance, the company may forget to revoke a former team member\u2019s access to a tool when they leave their role, or a contractor may be granted access to a full folder (rather than a single file).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To protect against insider threats, apps should have varying privacy permissions<\/strong> to allow different users access to levels of data. It can also be smart to see if a tool lets users log in using single sign-on<\/strong> (SSO), which lets a company control users\u2019 access to multiple tools through a single login. That way, if an employee leaves the company, the company only needs to revoke their access to one tool \u2014 rather than the hundreds that most companies use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phishing<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A phishing attempt takes place when a third party tricks an authorized user into sharing sensitive information with them. For instance, a phishing email may convince one of your employees to share their login information to an app by sending a realistic-looking \u201cReset your password\u201d email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since there\u2019s a human element to phishing, it can be hard to stop altogether. However, two-factor authentication<\/strong> (2FA) can help ensure that even if a malevolent actor gains access to an employee\u2019s login information, they\u2019re still met with another layer of protection. With 2FA in place, users need to provide two methods of authentication when they log into a service \u2014 for instance, a user may enter their credentials when logging in, then need to confirm their identity by clicking a link sent to their email. Some single sign-on <\/strong>providers will also offer 2FA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Five secure collaboration platforms<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Whether you\u2019re just starting to look into collaboration tools or you\u2019re realizing that \u2014 whoops!<\/em> \u2014 a few of your current apps don\u2019t quite meet your security requirements, not to worry. We\u2019ve outlined five of our favorite secure collaboration tools that are user-friendly, yet secure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. GoLinks<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The average enterprise uses a total of 1,295 cloud apps<\/a> across their company, making it difficult \u2014 if not downright impossible \u2014 for team members to know where certain resources are stored. Is it any wonder, then, that the average employee spends 3.6 hours a day<\/a> simply looking for information?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GoLinks (that\u2019s us!) is a team collaboration app that aims to change that. GoLinks allows your teams to find and share information by using intuitive, memorable short links. For instance, your product team might create a short link to their product roadmap in Jira and name it simply \u201cgo\/roadmap.\u201d The HR team may link to their onboarding guide in Microsoft Office using the short link \u201cgo\/onboarding.\u201d If anyone at the company plugs either of those go links into their browsers, they\u2019ll be redirected to the appropriate resource.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"GoLinks<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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GoLinks not only saves teams hours a day, but it allows for secure file sharing thanks to its robust security features<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n