In 2025, as Slack continues to serve as a crucial communication hub for businesses, selecting and integrating a Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solution tailored to Slack’s unique ecosystem is essential for safeguarding sensitive information. This guide will walk you through what to look for in a DLP partner and how to make a choice that will secure your organization’s data without disrupting productivity.
What is data loss prevention (DLP)?
Data loss prevention (DLP) refers to the processes and tools your organization uses to protect your important data from being lost, stolen, corrupted, accessed or exposed by unauthorized parties.
The more critical data is to your business’ stability and continuity, the more important DLP becomes for that data.
The importance of DLP in Slack
For organizations that use Slack for internal or external communication, DLP is an important component to put into place. This is so because:
Users put everything in Slack
Everything.
Even the things they shouldn’t.
Even the things your data security awareness education program told them they shouldn’t.
It’s still there:
- PII (personal identifiable information)
- Access codes and login info
- Encryption keys
- Secret of your choice
By default, Slack keeps your data forever
The positive side of this is that if you’re searching for an item of critical information from 2016, and the one place you remember that you wrote it down is in a Slack channel: it’s probably still there. Phew.
On the flip side, however, should a bad actor gain access to your Slack instance (as happened to Disney), they will have access to years of sensitive data - even the Social Security number that was needed only once 10 years ago, and that could (and should) have been deleted from your systems.
Slack Connect makes your data even more vulnerable to exposure
Slack Connect enables your users to easily communicate and collaborate with users from other organizations, all within their Slack interface. Amazing for productivity? Yes!
But new direct channels of communication with external parties mean new ways that your sensitive information could be accidentally or intentionally exposed to the wrong eyes. Yet another example of the productivity vs. security tug-of-war that characterizes SaaS use.
Unfortunately, Slack’s built-in DLP functionality is very limited. They do, however, have a number of verified providers they partner with to provide DLP for your Slack data. This leaves you with the need to investigate and choose from among the potential providers.
Key features to look for in Slack DLP solutions
Official Slack DLP Partner
Effective DLP can only be done using Slack’s official Discovery API, which lets third-party applications monitor, export or act on messages and files from Slack. Discovery API use is only available to Slack’s approved eDiscovery and DLP partners, so make sure that your potential provider is a verified partner, like DoControl.
Easy integration
Your Slack DLP solution shouldn’t waste your time and resources. Look for a solution that is designed to integrate quickly and easily with Slack. DoControl’s Slack DLP, for example, integrates with a few clicks and is fully functional within minutes.
High accuracy
If your Slack DLP solution acts like the boy who cried wolf, it becomes a problem, not a solution. Many DLP tools use regular expressions to define and identify sensitive information, but regular expressions are infamous for false positives, frustrating your users (who are waiting for that Slack message to go through!) and draining your security resources. Look for a Slack DLP solution that includes advanced methods of sensitive data detection, such as NLP-based or AI-based processes.
Another factor that highly improves accuracy is the inclusion of context in risk classification. For example, financial data shared by your point person with a corporation thinking about acquiring your company should be treated differently than financial data shared by your outgoing CFO who is leaving next month to a competitor. Context counts, so it should be accounted for. Look for a Slack DLP solution that integrates and acts based on a more holistic picture of the data share.
Lets you create granular, automated remediation workflows
If an alert falls into your InfoSec team’s inbox, but no one is there to see it, does it make a difference?
Unfortunately not - unless you have a DLP solution which provides for automated remediation when a policy is violated.
Slack - and all SaaS systems - move FAST. If you don’t take care of potential data exposure swiftly, it will almost certainly become actual data exposure. And on the flip side, if you quarantine all potential incidents of data exposure until a human InfoSec team member has time to investigate and remediate, users will be sending you flaming messages for holding up their work.
What’s the solution? Smart automation. If you have the ability to set up granular workflows to take care of all your foreseeable risky situations, most issues can be resolved promptly, without any human involvement. Here’s a workflow example:
If a departing employee shares a sensitive financial data asset with a personal email account,
then remove the personal email account from the asset
AND do not let the user share any other sensitive assets with external accounts.
Involves end users
Sensitive data only needs to be discovered, evaluated and remediated if it was shared. If it was never shared in the first place, you just saved yourself a whole lot of heartache and resources. That should be the goal of every information security team and program: to have their end users reach a level of information security awareness such that they don’t create security issues when they share data.
It’s a lofty goal to strive for; one tool that can make a world of difference is a Slack DLP solution which involves your end users in the risk remediation process. This can take the form of messages which:
- Ask the user for the business context of their file/data share
- inform the user of the security policy their action violated and the automated remediation taken
- Request that the user remediate the security risk themselves
The more actively involved your users are in the information security process, the more aware and responsible they will become in the long-tem.
How to choose the right Slack DLP partner for your needs
Any Slack DLP partner you are considering should be measured against the key features noted in the above section.
In addition, check that the Slack DLP partner does secure data in all forms of Slack that your organization uses, whether that be Slack Enterprise Grid, Slack Connect, or anything else.
Lastly, see if the Slack DLP partner you are considering offers other SaaS security features that your organization could use. We see many of our clients base internal workflow on both Slack and Google Workspace, for example. It helps them tremendously that we secure both ecosystems, with holistic user risk profiles that cover all user actions in all secured ecosystems.
FAQ
How secure are Slack DLP integrations?
Slack DLP integrations from Slack approved third-party providers help you secure data shared in your organization’s Slack. Slack allows them to connect to the Slack Discovery API, through which they can monitor data sent in messages and files, and take action to prevent data exposure based on predefined policies.
Can Slack DLP solutions protect against insider threats?
Yes, Slack DLP solutions can potentially protect against insider threats, although the level of protection will be determined by the capabilities of the DLP solution in question. DoControl, for example, offers a high level of protection against insider threats (both malicious and unintentional) through a combination of advanced data discovery, identity and business context based on IdP and HRIS systems, along with automated workflows that can take remediation action immediately upon threat detection.
Meet DoControl - The #1 Multi-Layer SaaS Security Solution
DoControl was designed expressly for the multiple layers and attack surfaces of SaaS: data, identities, configurations and connected apps. Each of those must be fully secured in order to protect you against SaaS data breaches.
DoControl’s Data Access Governance and Data Loss Prevention secure your data all across your SaaS ecosystem. Advanced data classification methods mean that no sensitive data goes undiscovered, and automated workflows mean that any detected threat can be mitigated in near real-time.
DoControl’s Identity Threat Detection & Response (ITDR) and Insider Risk Management secure your user identities, protecting you from external threat actors or insider threats. Behavior benchmarking for individuals and groups, along with important contextual information from HRIS, EDR and IdP systems enable smart differentiation between normal business activity and suspicious actions.
DoControl’s Shadow App Discovery & Remediation secure your third-party OAuth connected apps by monitoring app behavior and removing unnecessary apps and app permissions.
DoControl’s SaaS Misconfiguration Management secures your admin configurations, checking them against industry standards like CIS and offering remediation guidance.
Grab Your Partner, DLP!
Making the most of Slack - and any SaaS ecosystem - is a complex dance between work productivity and information security. And as in any dance, the right partner can make all the difference.
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