Pre-pandemic, Teams was a powerful tool for communicating with staff, but since then the usefulness has skyrocketed. It’s not surprising – with many employees working from home or in a hybrid situation, it may be the only way you can keep in touch with your staff. They platform is reliable, promotes creativity and collaboration, and is relatively secure.

Bad actors (or hackers) have seen the surge in popularity and are finding ways to exploit the platform. With employees working from home and being as relaxed as ever, it may be the easiest time to compromise a company. The latest research shows that nearly 50% of employees frequently share confidential and sensitive files on Teams.

Not only are employees sharing information on Teams, but they are saving these documents to their personal equipment rather than company issued hardware. This should raise some serious red flags! (If you do not make your employees used company workstations, this is a warning sign). In another study, nearly half of people surveyed said they share ‘business critical’ information using personal devices. Worse still, 48% admitted they’ve accidentally sent files they shouldn’t have – possibly to the wrong person!

Enough of the bad news – lets look at next steps! How can you make your company more secure?

Teams is not the issue at hand – Microsoft applications and services are very secure and are our recommended platform. The most vulnerable piece of your business are the humans that hold your company’s information. Not only should you equip them with secure tools to use, but their minds need to be sharpened as well! Cyber security training is a must for modern businesses, and it shouldn’t be a one and done lesson either. Recurring training keeps your security top of mind for your employees. And when I say employees, I mean ALL employees, including you! Yes, even the C-Level staff, owner, partner, head honcho needs to have training. Our training of choice are NINJIO monthly videos.

Trust us, you do not want to be in a situation where you wished you had put in security measures. Be proactive and start implementation as soon as possible, especially if you’re people are 1) working from home or 2) using personal devices. Remember, even a trusted app like Teams is safe so long as the people who use it and the devices they are installed on are secure.

Need help taking that next step? We are here to help!