8 security risks of collaboration tools

From Slack and Microsoft Teams to Google Workspace and Zoom, collaboration tools enable communication, file sharing, and project management across distributed teams. 

According to Metrigy's "Workplace Collaboration: 2021-22" research published in TechTarget, "A full 41% of the 476 companies participating in Metrigy's recent 'Workplace Collaboration: 2021-22' global research study use more than one meeting application." The volume of communications is equally impressive. The Importance Of Protecting Collaboration Tools From Cyberattacks from Forbes notes that "a 50,000-person retail company sends upwards of 300 million collaboration messages each year."

Marc Gilman, a technology attorney, compliance executive, and adjunct professor of compliance at Fordham Law, notes that "recent surveys showing that over 47% of organizations employ them as part of their communications infrastructure." According to additional research from the Paubox report, 31.1% of breached healthcare organizations had misconfigurations that exposed them to major email risks, with Microsoft 365 alone accounting for 43.3% of all healthcare email breaches in 2024. 

1. Inadequate access controls and permission management

Many organizations implement a "default open" approach, granting broad permissions to users without considering the principle of least privilege. This creates scenarios where employees have access to sensitive information and channels they don't need for their roles.

The problem is made worse when employees change departments or leave the organization. Without proper offboarding procedures, former employees may retain access to collaboration platforms, creating a security vulnerability. Additionally, guest users and external contractors are often granted permissions that persist long after projects conclude.

Organizations must implement identity and access management (IAM) frameworks that regularly audit user permissions, automatically revoke access for departing employees, and ensure that users only have access to the resources necessary for their current roles.

2. Data leakage through file sharing and storage

Users often share sensitive documents through these platforms without understanding where the data is stored, who has access, and how long it will remain accessible.

The risk is higher with cloud-based collaboration tools where files may be automatically synced across devices and stored on external servers. According to Avoiding Cloud Storage Risks when Using Remote Collaboration Tools from Cloud Computing Magazine, "more than 30% of cloud data assets contain sensitive information," highlighting the exposure risk organizations face. 

According to The Importance Of Protecting Collaboration Tools From Cyberattacks, "the 50,000-person retail customer referenced earlier sees an average of 1,500 Slack shares of credit card information per month." Employees might share confidential information with the wrong recipients or make sensitive documents publicly accessible through misconfigured sharing settings. As Gilman explains, "Social Security numbers, birthdates, email addresses, and account numbers could be nefariously exfiltrated during a screen share, shown on paper through a webcam, discussed in a chat, or shared in an Excel sheet via file transfer."

Furthermore, many collaboration tools create multiple copies of shared files, making it difficult to track and control sensitive data. When employees download files to personal devices or share them through external platforms, organizations lose visibility and control over their information. As noted in The Importance Of Protecting Collaboration Tools From Cyberattacks, "The informal nature of collaboration blurs the boundaries between social and corporate communication. Without training and guardrails, mistakes are inevitable."

The challenge is further compounded by what "Are Collaboration Tools Compromising Your Data Security?" identifies as a gap, "the necessary internal security controls and visibility that something like email has is often missing." This absence of traditional security measures makes it easier for sensitive data to be shared inappropriately or with unintended recipients.

3. Insufficient data encryption and protection

While most modern collaboration tools offer encryption, the implementation varies across platforms and often falls short of enterprise security requirements. Many tools only encrypt data in transit but not at rest, leaving information vulnerable when stored on servers or synchronized across devices.

End-to-end encryption, while becoming more common, is still not universal across all collaboration features. Video calls, instant messages, and file transfers may use different encryption standards, creating inconsistent protection levels within the same platform.

Organizations must evaluate the encryption capabilities of their collaboration tools and ensure that sensitive communications and data are adequately protected throughout their entire lifecycle, from creation to deletion.

4. Third-party integration vulnerabilities

Third-party plugins, bots, and applications may have their own security vulnerabilities that can be exploited to gain unauthorized access to the collaboration platform and connected systems.

The widespread adoption of cloud-based third-party tools creates additional problems. According to Cloud Computing Magazine, "more than 73% of companies have applications or infrastructure in the cloud. These cloud environments, operated by cloud service providers and SaaS vendors, are not a part of an organization's network," emphasizing how organizations lose direct control over their data security posture.

Organizations can sometimes fail to properly vet third-party integrations before implementation, focusing on functionality while overlooking security implications. These integrations often request broad permissions that can be misused if the third-party service is compromised.

The interconnected nature of these integrations means that a security breach in one application could potentially compromise the entire collaboration system and connected business systems.

5. Social engineering and phishing attacks

Collaboration tools have become prime targets for social engineering and phishing attacks due to their informal, conversational nature. Attackers can easily impersonate colleagues, partners, or vendors through direct messages, making it difficult for users to verify the authenticity of communications.

‘Are Collaboration Tools Compromising Your Data Security?’ explains, this risk is amplified by how "the blurred lines it creates means casual conversations can quickly stray into sensitive areas, or lead to employees sharing information they shouldn't be, sometimes with severe consequences." The informal nature of these platforms makes users less likely to apply the same security scrutiny they might use with formal communications.

As Briana Contreras from Managed Healthcare Executive notes in the Paubox Report, "While email remains the main communication tool in healthcare, it still poses as the weakest form of security." This vulnerability extends beyond healthcare to all industries using collaboration platforms for sensitive communications. Gilman adds that "the proliferation of 'Zoombombing' attacks, unauthorized meeting access and sharing of inappropriate or insecure data indicate a growing risk surface."

The real-time nature of these platforms creates pressure for quick responses, often bypassing normal verification procedures. Attackers exploit this urgency to trick users into sharing credentials, downloading malicious files, or transferring sensitive information.

Attacks may involve creating fake accounts that closely mimic legitimate users or hijacking existing accounts to launch attacks from trusted sources. The collaborative and social aspects of these platforms make users more likely to trust and respond to requests, even when they should be suspicious.

6. Compliance and regulatory violations

Organizations in regulated industries face compliance risks when using collaboration tools without proper controls. Financial services, healthcare, legal, and government organizations must adhere to data protection and retention requirements that many collaboration tools cannot natively support.

The global nature of cloud-based collaboration tools creates additional complexity around data sovereignty and cross-border data transfer regulations. Organizations may unknowingly violate regulations like GDPR and HIPAA when sensitive data is processed or stored in jurisdictions with different privacy laws. The scope of these regulations continues to expand, with Gilman noting that "according to a recent Gartner survey, by 2022 over 50% of the world's population will have their data protected by a GDPR-like regulation."

Cloud Computing Magazine states, "for sensitive internal communications, companies may inadvertently provide a blueprint to their own proprietary information and intellectual property to other companies, without realizing they have provided consent." This risk is more with AI-powered collaboration features that may use organizational data for training or improvement purposes.

Failure to maintain proper audit trails, implement required retention policies, or ensure appropriate data handling procedures can result in regulatory penalties and legal consequences. 

7. Shadow IT and unauthorized tool usage

While organizations may have approved collaboration tools with appropriate security measures, employees often adopt unauthorized alternatives that better meet their immediate needs. This "shadow IT" creates security blind spots and compliance risks.

As stated in Are Collaboration Tools Compromising Your Data Security?, "Think how easy it is to sign up for these tools with a simple email address and start sharing all kinds of ideas and sensitive data." This accessibility, while beneficial for productivity, creates uncontrolled entry points for sensitive organizational data.

The problem extends beyond just unauthorized applications to what Cloud Computing Magazine defines as "shadow data"—"any company information created, stored or transmitted outside of company infrastructure or control of the firm's IT function." When data is stored anywhere outside of the company's view, security risks rise.

Employees might use free or personal versions of collaboration tools for business purposes, bypassing corporate security policies and controls. These unauthorized tools may lack enterprise-grade security features, proper backup procedures, or compliance capabilities. Gilman warns that "the use of encrypted messaging applications like WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, and Wickr to covertly share sensitive information is on the rise."

The governance challenge is significant, as Are Collaboration Tools Compromising Your Data Security? notes: "we often see individual teams using collaboration tools that suit their needs with little oversight from governance and IT teams." This occurs because "Collaboration tools can be particularly problematic because they are deployed by people most interested in their productivity benefits and not their security detriments."

The decentralized nature of collaboration tool adoption makes it difficult for IT departments to maintain visibility and control over all the platforms being used across the organization. This creates inconsistent security postures and makes incident response more challenging. As noted in The Importance Of Protecting Collaboration Tools From Cyberattacks, "External collaboration channels do expand the potential attack surface of your organization."

8. Inadequate monitoring and incident response

Organizations implement collaboration tools but fail to establish monitoring and incident response procedures. Without proper logging and analytics, security teams cannot detect suspicious activities, unauthorized access attempts, or potential data breaches in real-time.

Research from TechTarget reveals that "According to Metrigy research, 41% of study participants have a proactive workplace collaboration security plan in place." Nearly 60% of organizations lack security planning for their collaboration environments.

When security incidents do occur, the urgency of response cannot be overstated. As emphasized in The Importance Of Protecting Collaboration Tools From Cyberattacks, "In the case that a breach does happen, security teams need to be prepared to investigate and take swift action without hesitation. Every second truly makes a difference."

As Rick Kuwahara, Chief Compliance Officer at Paubox, explains, "Confidence without clarity is what gets organizations breached. We don't just need encryption—we need evidence." This principle applies to all aspects of collaboration tool security, not just encryption.

The high volume of communications and file transfers in collaboration platforms makes it challenging to identify genuine security incidents among normal business activities. Organizations often lack the tools and expertise necessary to analyze collaboration tool logs effectively.

When security incidents do occur, the distributed and integrated nature of collaboration tools can complicate investigation and remediation efforts. Understanding the full scope of a breach and implementing appropriate containment measures requires specialized knowledge and procedures that many organizations lack.

Moving forward securely

The security risks associated with collaboration tools are growing, but they shouldn't prevent organizations from leveraging these platforms. However, as Are Collaboration Tools Compromising Your Data Security? reminds us, "The root of the problem nearly always stems from the persistent tug of war between productivity and security."

The business case for proper security is clear: according to TechTarget, "Organizations with the highest ROI or productivity gains for their collaboration investments are twice as likely to have a proactive collaboration security plan as those with no security plan."

The industry is responding to these challenges, with the TectTarget article stating that "an estimated 21% of organizations with a proactive security approach are currently using a third-party security platform, with another 33% planning to deploy one by the end of 2021."

The key is implementing policies for collaboration tool usage, implementing security controls, providing regular training to employees, and maintaining ongoing monitoring and assessment programs.

Additionally, as noted in TechTarget, "Security organizations must work closely with collaboration leaders to ensure they understand risks and how to mitigate them." Cross-functional collaboration between security teams and collaboration platform administrators is essential for maintaining effective protection.

Read also: Underestimated cybersecurity risks

FAQs

How often should access permissions be reviewed in collaboration tools?

Regular reviews should occur at least quarterly or whenever employees change roles to ensure only necessary access is maintained.

Can collaboration tools track who downloads or shares files?

Many tools offer audit logs and activity tracking, but the effectiveness depends on proper configuration and consistent monitoring.

Are there differences in security between free and enterprise versions of collaboration tools?

Yes, enterprise versions typically include advanced encryption, access controls, and compliance features not available in free versions.

What are the risks of using collaboration tools on personal devices?

Personal devices may lack enterprise security measures, increasing the risk of data leakage or malware exposure.

Can collaboration tools store data in regions that violate data sovereignty laws?

Yes, if default cloud storage settings are not adjusted, data may reside in jurisdictions with conflicting privacy regulations.