Visibility into communications remains a worry for compliance and security chiefs

Two-thirds (66 percent) of security and compliance leaders are worried that their employees are using unmonitored communications channels, according to a new report.

The study from Theta Lake finds 67 percent of respondents expect the usage of collaboration tools and popular platforms like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Webex, Slack and RingCentral to increase.

Employees also show a growing preference for the feature-rich tools available through these platforms over legacy methods of communication, with 81 percent using chat and 63 percent using video as much or more than email to communicate. In line with last year's report findings, the transfer of files via chat (52 percent) and the ability to share links in chat or on screen (41 percent) are still considered the riskiest features.

"Modern collaboration tools have become the foundation of the hybrid work environment, making it all the more important for organizations to have complete visibility into the communication channels employees are using," says Stacey English, director of regulatory intelligence at Theta Lake. "The findings are a wake-up call to the growing gap between the collaboration platforms employees prefer and the technology needed to remain in compliance. Our report provides a roadmap for businesses to meet the evolving communication needs and compliance mandates of the hybrid workforce."

For compliance teams using legacy archiving solutions, modern communications platforms are difficult to oversee. 85 percent of organizations say they experience challenges in retrieving records, while 33 percent are using significant manual resources to search multiple systems and modes of communication.

At the same time, 52 percent find it difficult to search modern communication channels outside of traditional email methods -- increasing their exposure to potential fines and sanctions for not being able to provide timely, complete data for investigations or other compliance purposes. An additional 39 percent of respondents cite gaps in coverage as being a top challenge with their current archiving tool.

You can get the full report from the Theta Lake site.

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