Collaboration Tools: A Double-Edged Sword

While email remains the primary attack vector for bad actors, collaboration tools have become another key front in the cybersecurity wars.

These tools, which include virtual communication platforms such as Zoom and teamwork-enabling software like Google Workspace, Slack, and Microsoft Teams, continue to soar in popularity. Per Gartner, spending on social and collaboration software will reach $24.7 billion by 2027¹. The team collaboration software segment alone is charging ahead at a compound annual growth rate of 18%, according to another market research firm. Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing market, while North America remains the largest².

Collaboration software quickly became indispensable during the COVID-19 pandemic, empowering workers to share data and resources, assign tasks, and work together remotely. Since then, the growth of these apps has continued to be fueled by the recognition that enabling workplace collaboration and teamwork can have a positive impact on employee engagement and satisfaction³.  

Collaboration tools are essential to the well-ordered functioning of today's organizations, but IT and cybersecurity professionals are also concerned that the rapid spread and growing reliance on these tools makes them an increasingly attractive target for the criminal set. 

Collaboration Tools: Essential but Risky

Few contemporary businesses can function without the use of collaboration tools, which integrate communications and messaging with project management functions. Designed to provide a central platform for data and document sharing, collaboration software helps businesses encourage virtual teamwork and work more efficiently, especially in the context of today’s remote and hybrid work environments.

Yet, trying to keep pace with the many authorized collaboration tools in use at an organization can be an overwhelming proposition for security teams. Just as concerning, employees routinely download and use new tools that have not been vetted or approved by IT.

The use of these platforms continues to grow, and this has provided an ever-bigger attack surface for cybercriminals to exploit. The number of attacks due to collaboration tools is on the upswing so security teams must quickly close the newly created security loopholes created by these platforms.

Additional Security Required

Security professionals tend to correctly harbor doubts that the security safeguards provided by the makers of the most popular team-building platforms are sufficient, given the extent of the threat. It’s also worth noting that when it comes to Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 in particular, additional security measures are needed to supplement these platforms’ native security functions. 

To improve their defenses, there is a widespread sense that companies need to spend more on collaboration tool security.

The Bottom Line

Collaboration tools are improving workplace teamwork and employee productivity, and few companies today can make do without them. But such software has also enlarged the attack surface that cybercriminals can exploit. Companies can’t simply rely on the native safeguards built into these applications for protection; they must invest in additional security measures.

1 ”Social and Collaboration Software to Reach $24.7 Billion by 2027,” Gartner

2“Analysis,” Mordor Intelligence

3 “3 Ways Stronger Collaboration Improves Employee Satisfaction,” Forbes