Securing Collaboration: A Comprehensive Guide to Slack Security Best Practices

Slack is a popular collaboration platform that allows teams to communicate and work together more efficiently. However, as with any online service, Slack also poses some security risks that must be addressed and mitigated. Read on to learn best practices for Slack security that can help you protect your workspace and data.

With 54.1 million monthly active users and 32.3 million daily active users on the platform, Slack has become an enticing target for hackers seeking to breach and access sensitive data. Hence, companies should consider additional security measures to ensure protection against potential Slack security breaches.

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What is Slack Security?

Slack security refers to the measures and policies you implement to safeguard your Slack workspace from unauthorized access, data breaches, malware, phishing, and other threats. Slack security covers both the technical and organizational aspects of using Slack, such as:

• How you authenticate and authorize users and devices
• How you manage and monitor apps and integrations
• How you control and limit access to channels and messages
• How you encrypt and backup your data
• How you educate and train your team members on security awareness and hygiene

Slack security is essential for several reasons, such as protecting confidential and sensitive information, complying with legal and regulatory requirements, maintaining your reputation and trust, preventing potential losses and damages, and enhancing productivity and collaboration.

Securing your Slack workspace can safeguard your data, meet your obligations, build credibility, avoid cyberattacks, and improve your performance.

Key Components of Slack Security

Slack security consists of several key components that ensure the safety and privacy of your data and communications. These components are:

• Access control and user permissions allow you to manage who can join your workspace, access your channels, and perform specific actions.
• Data encryption for conversations and files protects your conversations and files from unauthorized access or interception. Slack encrypts your data in transit and at rest using industry-standard protocols and algorithms.
• Integration security measures enable you to connect your Slack workspace securely with other apps and services. Slack provides various options and tools to verify the authenticity and integrity of your integrations, such as OAuth, webhooks, and tokens.

By implementing these components, you can enhance your Slack security and enjoy the benefits of a secure and productive workspace.

The Risks of Using Slack for Collaboration

Slack has experienced several security incidents, exposing its users’ data and code. Here are some of the well-known ones:

• In December 2022, Slack admitted that an unknown attacker had stolen some of its employee tokens and used them to access and download its private GitHub repositories. 
• In July 2022, Slack revealed that it had accidentally exposed some users' hashed passwords for years due to a bug in its invitation link feature.
• In 2015, Slack suffered a significant data breach that compromised the email addresses, usernames, passwords, and other information of about 500,000 users.

These incidents show that Slack’s security is insufficient to protect its users from cyberattacks and that users need to take additional measures to improve their security.

How to Improve Your Slack Security?

Depending on your specific needs and goals, there are many ways to improve your Slack security. However, some of the most common and effective Slack security best practices are:

1. Managing User Access

The challenge lies in implementing a system that can seamlessly manage and control user access to critical information. Find a provider that lets you seamlessly integrate with Slack, providing a foundational layer of preventative controls. It assists in preventing data overexposure, automatically remediating insider threats, and enabling secure business collaboration.

• Implement role-based access control (RBAC) to restrict access based on user roles.
• Regularly review and update user permissions to align with organizational changes.
• Utilize Slack Enterprise Grid for enhanced access control and visibility across workspaces.

2. Securing Conversations and Files

Leverage automated workflows for secure file sharing in Slack to overcome challenges in manual security controls. Integrating solutions like DoControl mitigates data exfiltration risks and ensures compliance. Enhance security by incorporating encryption features and promoting private channels for sensitive discussions.

• Leverage Slack's native encryption features for both in-transit and at-rest data.
• Encourage the use of private channels for sensitive discussions.
• Employ enterprise key management for added control over encryption keys.

3.  Ensuring Alignment with Third-Party Integrations

Simplify vetting third-party integrations with dedicated Slack security solutions. Consolidate and normalize activity events across critical SaaS applications, providing a baseline for normal user behavior. This enables real-time notifications and automated security workflows, streamlining the integration of third-party apps securely.

• Vet third-party integrations for security compliance before implementation.
• Regularly audit and update integrations to address potential vulnerabilities.
• Utilize Slack's app directory to choose verified and trusted integrations.

4. Swift Action in Slack Security Incidents

Use a tool offering real-time notifications and automated actions for robust incident response. It swiftly responds to threats by consolidating activity events, allowing teams to focus on critical projects while automating lower-priority tasks.

• Develop and document an incident response plan specific to Slack.
• Establish communication channels for reporting and responding to incidents.
• Regularly conduct simulation exercises to ensure preparedness.

5.  Empowering Secure Collaboration

Beyond technical solutions, it's also essential to foster a culture of secure collaboration. Focus on high-priority tasks while automating lower-priority ones. Regular training sessions, real-time alerts, and automated responses contribute to building a security-aware organizational culture.

• Provide comprehensive training on Slack's security features and best practices.
• Create a Slack security policy that outlines the rules and expectations for using Slack, such as password requirements, two-factor authentication (2FA) settings, single sign-on settings (SSO), guest account usage, app installation, data encryption, etc.
• Foster a culture of awareness through periodic security reminders.

6. Aligning with Industry Regulations

Depending on your sector and location, you may need to follow specific standards for data security on collaboration platforms, such as GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, etc. By aligning your Slack usage with these standards, you can avoid legal risks, protect your data, and demonstrate trustworthiness to your customers and partners.

• Regularly review and update Slack usage policies to align with industry standards.
• Conduct periodic compliance audits to ensure adherence to regulations.
• Utilize Enterprise Key Management to meet data sovereignty requirements.

7.  Ensuring Security on Mobile Devices

As mobile collaboration becomes increasingly prevalent, you must implement mobile device management (MDM) policies. Promote the adoption of device passcodes and biometric authentication among users to enhance security measures. Utilizing Slack's mobile security settings further enhances the management and control over mobile devices.

• Enforce mobile device management (MDM) policies for secure device usage.
• Encourage users to enable device passcodes and biometric authentication.
• Leverage Slack's mobile security settings for enhanced control.

8. Early Identification and Mitigation

Consider partnering with a SaaS Security Platform for consolidated activity events. It establishes a baseline for normal user behavior, enabling Slack webhooks for real-time notifications in automated workflows. Lower-risk events go to individual actors, while higher-risk events trigger immediate action from relevant teams.

• Utilize Slack's Enterprise Security Grid for advanced threat detection.
• Implement automated monitoring and alert systems for suspicious activities.
• Regularly analyze logs and conduct threat intelligence sharing.

9. Securing Information Shared Externally

Establishing granular data access policies is essential, restricting unauthorized parties from accessing specific files. Real-time alerts and automated responses enhance the security posture, ensuring sensitive information remains within authorized boundaries.

• Clearly define and communicate guidelines for external information sharing.
• Regularly audit external sharing settings and permissions.
• Use access expiration settings for shared links to limit exposure.

10. Policies for Secure Data Lifecycle

Establish secure data retention policies for Slack to enable you to monitor and control user activity. Enforce policies to prevent perpetual access to sensitive files across organizational Slack channels.

• Establish and communicate clear data retention policies.
• Utilize Slack's retention settings to delete or archive outdated information automatically.
• Conduct periodic reviews and purges of archived data to minimize risk.

What Are Other Slack Security Best Practices?

Continuing to fortify your collaborative workspace, it's crucial to implement additional Slack security best practices, such as user emails and domain verification or backing up your data.

1. Verify User Emails and Domains

Verifying user emails and domains is a way to ensure that only authorized and trusted people can join your Slack workspace. You can do this by setting up a signup mode for your workspace that allows anyone with an approved email domain to join your workspace automatically or by requiring admin approval for all invitations.

2. Use Guest Accounts for Third-party Access

Some members of your Slack workspace, such as contractors, interns, or clients, may only need access to certain channels or messages. Guest accounts are a great way to manage who has access to the information they need in your workspace without giving them full access.

3. Set Session Durations

Session durations are the length of time that users can stay signed in to Slack without having to re-enter their password or verification code. It helps you limit the risk of unauthorized access to your workspace if a user’s device is lost, stolen, or compromised.

4. Deactivate Old Accounts

Deactivating old accounts is a way to remove access to your workspace from users who no longer need it, such as former employees, contractors, or guests. Doing so can free up space, reduce costs, and prevent potential security issues.

5. Encrypt and Backup Your Data

Encrypting and backing up your data is a way to protect your data from unauthorized access, loss, corruption, or deletion. You can ensure your data is secure and recoverable in case of a cyberattack, disaster, or human error.

6. Stay Updated and Informed

It’s a way to keep up with the latest trends and developments in Slack security and the best practices and recommendations from Slack and other experts. You can learn new ways to improve your Slack security and identify and address potential issues or vulnerabilities.

7. Report and Respond to Incidents

Handle any security issues or breaches in your Slack workspace, such as unauthorized access, data leakage, malware infection, phishing attacks, etc. You can minimize the impact and damage of the incident, as well as prevent recurrence and escalation.

8.  Review and Audit Your Security Settings

Reviewing and auditing your security settings is a way to check and evaluate the effectiveness and performance of your Slack security measures and policies. You can identify and address any gaps, weaknesses, or risks in your Slack security and improve and optimize it.

How DoControl Works with Slack

DoControl enhances Slack security by adding a foundational layer of preventive controls for sensitive files shared across channels. It enables automated, secure file-sharing workflows and offers complete asset management with real-time notifications for user activity.

By using DoControl with Slack, you can:

• Enable secure file sharing: DoControl establishes granular data access policies, limiting file access for unauthorized users or revoking access after a set time. It prevents perpetual access to sensitive files across all Slack channels.
• Manage and monitor critical assets: DoControl offers visibility and control over user activity and data access in Slack. It enables monitoring and individual control, allowing prompt action for risk mitigation. DoControl identifies high-risk individuals, isolates assets, and alerts them on suspicious behavior.
• Balance security and business enablement: DoControl ensures compliance with GDPR, HIPAA, PCI DSS, etc., while supporting secure collaboration with internal and external parties for business enablement without compromising data security or privacy.

Some examples of security workflows for Slack with DoControl are:

• Prevent public sharing of sensitive files: DoControl detects and blocks the sharing of sensitive information in public Slack channels, notifying users and admins of violations. It suggests secure alternatives for file sharing.
• Revoke access to files after a certain period: DoControl auto-revokes access to Slack-shared files after 30, 60, or 90 days. Users and admins receive notifications with an option to extend access if required.
• Restrict access to files based on email domains: DoControl restricts file access in Slack based on recipient email domains, notifying users and admins. It provides options to whitelist or blacklist specific email domains.

Don’t Slack on Security: Navigating the Future of Secure Collaboration

As digital collaboration evolves, you must take a proactive, integrated security strategy. Ensuring the security of collaboration on Slack demands a comprehensive approach that tackles diverse pain points and challenges.

You can employ a set of measures or use tools, such as DoControl, that provide a comprehensive solution to elevate Slack security. They enhance security measures and streamline workflows, allowing organizations to confidently navigate the future of secure collaboration.