Protect collaboration platforms from compliance and regulatory fines

Employees rely on company-provided collaboration tools like Slack, Teams and Zoom to help them do their jobs quickly and effectively. Because the tools are sanctioned by the workplace, it’s fair to assume they are safe repositories for all work-related conversations. However, information security and legal leaders know that is not the case. Collaboration tool datasets are stored indefinitely by default, and their complex architecture of public, private and group conversations make it almost impossible to see all the sensitive information they hold. Aware research shows that just 5000 employees will generate over 30 million collaboration messages each year, and approximately 1:166 of them will contain confidential or protected information or toxic and harassing statements. It only takes one of those messages to become public to cost the company millions in lost market cap, fines and penalties and lawsuits. Companies must proactively manage their collaboration tool data to mitigate the many risks it contains.  

• HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) — protects the privacy and security of individuals' personal health information.

• FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) — regulates and oversees the securities industry in the United States.

• GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) — protects the personal data and privacy of EU citizens.

Collaboration tools are not compliant with major regulations like HIPAA, FINRA, or GDPR right out the box. However, they can be used in a compliant manner by implementing the right controls and coaching employees on appropriate use practices. Some ways to make collaboration tools compliant with regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, and FINRA include setting retention policies that meet regulatory need, coaching employees on what information they can and cannot share in collaboration, and implementing an automated compliance adherence platform like Aware that can detect noncompliance and establish retention rules within collaboration messages.

Collaboration tool datasets are unlike any other. They are non-linear, fragmented, filled with shortform messages, acronyms and slang. They also include non-standard features such as emojis, images, and gifs, which courts and regulators have already ruled can have defined meaning within these datasets. Modern companies are conducting business with a 👍 or 👎, and legacy data loss protection tools cannot parse these characters or often miss their nuances. Many traditional tools also batch ingest content, which fails to capture a complete record of revisions and deletions and can leave companies exposed.   

Aware was purpose-built for collaboration datasets, and captures a complete record of all messages, including revisions and deletions, in real time. The Aware platform further infuses collaboration messages with AI/ML-informed metadata that brings context to the chaos.

Aware ingests collaboration tool data in near real time and automatically runs messages through Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (AI/ML) infused workflows designed to detect sensitive and noncompliant data-sharing. Aware provides customizable automations for major compliance regulations such as HIPAA and FINRA, and organizations can create their own workflows for their unique confidential and proprietary data using keyword detection and Boolean logic.

Creating a fully compliant workspace within collaboration tools requires a considered and deliberate approach. Collaboration tools are not automatically or intuitively compliant with any major legislation but do enable the functionality to be used in a compliant manner. Sometimes this requires upgrading your tool subscription to a higher tier workspace or implementing a third-party compliance solution like Aware (or both!).   

Even in fully compliant collaboration environments, other risks still exist. Employees may share restricted or sensitive information, engage in harassment or toxic speech, or even conduct unlawful activities such as insider trading or illegal gambling. Aware enables businesses to take charge of unauthorized activities within collaboration tools by automatically ingesting and analyzing messages to flag misuse and toxicity in real time. 

Yes. Aware ingests collaboration messages and analyzes them for noncompliance in real time. This enables real-time compliance training by immediately flagging the noncompliant message and automatically coaching the employee on the correct use of collaboration tools. 

Information governance concerns how organizations manage their data. Records retention involves creating and implementing policies that treat information as a valuable business asset. Done correctly, a successful information governance records retention strategy keeps data secure and compliant while enabling access to extract the value it contains.   

Retention polices are an important element of any information governance strategy. Some information must be retained for a fixed period, especially in highly regulated industries. However, other data should be purged quickly to protect confidential business information. Finally, organizations must consider the storage costs of the data they collect. Establishing a data retention strategy helps businesses understand the scale and value of their data. Many collaboration tools enable administrators to set granular data retention controls. Aware also supports this functionality across its collaboration dataset. 

Aware supports granular data retention controls across collaboration tools from a single, centralized source of truth. Backed by Role-Based Access Controls (RBAC), workspace administrators can create custom rules to suit the most complex retention needs within collaboration datasets.

The Aware AI data platform was purpose-built to understand the nuances of collaboration conversations. Using real-time analysis and industry-leading sentiment analysis, Aware supports a range of use cases within collaboration tools, including information governance and security, eDiscovery and legal investigations, insider risk detection, and employee experience management.