The Hidden Risks of Using Enterprise Collaboration Tools in the Wake of a Cyber Breach

Following an attack, the immediate focus is often on damage control and restoring normalcy. However, there’s a lurking danger in continuing to use your everyday communication tools. These platforms, vital for daily operations, can become liabilities after a breach, providing hackers with a backdoor for surveillance, data theft, and further attacks.

The Dangers of “Business as Usual” Communication

Even after containing a breach, relying on standard enterprise collaboration tools poses significant risks.

As the MIT Sloan Management Review aptly puts it, “Typically, either email is no longer functional, or if it is, the adversary is reading emails and thereby staying steps ahead of the defense.”

Surveillance and Disruption

Compromised tools grant hackers a window into your company, allowing them to monitor conversations, recovery strategies, vulnerabilities, and future plans. This can lead to further exploitation and disruption of incident response efforts.

As the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center observed in the Lapsus$ breach, attackers joined crisis communication calls and internal discussion boards to understand the response workflow.

Data Theft

Collaboration platforms become treasure troves for hackers seeking to steal valuable intellectual property, financial data, and customer records. The fallout includes financial losses, reputational damage, and potential legal consequences.

IBM’s 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report states that the average cost of a data breach is now a staggering $4.88 million.

Further Attacks and Impersonation

Compromised tools can be weaponized to launch additional attacks such as phishing scams, malware infections, or devastating ransomware attacks. Attackers can also impersonate key personnel to inject fear, uncertainty, and doubt into critical conversations, further hindering the company’s incident response.

The Vulnerabilities in Enterprise Collaboration Tools

As mentioned, while enterprise collaboration tools may be convenient for day-to-day operations, they are vulnerable to the threats companies are trying to defend against. It’s not that Teams, Slack or Google are bad tools for everyday use, but designing something to be easily administered by a small number of administrators can go badly when an adversary figures out how to give themselves that same admin access.

Encryption Limitations

The at-rest and in-transit encryption of typical enterprise collaboration tools still only keep out people without the right username and password. The data is still accessible in plain text to the user with the right credentials or privileges., If attackers gain access to these user credentials, they can access all prior communications, including sensitive incident response plans, procedures, contact lists, and shared passwords.

Credential Attacks and MFA Fatigue

These standard enterprise collaboration platforms are susceptible to credential attacks, even with multi-factor authentication (MFA) in place. MFA fatigue or social engineering of help desk staff can lead to compromised accounts and unauthorized access.

Zero Trust and IDP Risks

The integration of enterprise communication tools with identity providers (IDPs) in zero trust frameworks can create additional vulnerabilities. Attackers can exploit the IDP to de-provision access, impersonate users, or gain widespread access across multiple platforms.

ArmorText’s Secure Out of Band Collaboration™ as the Solution

In the aftermath of a breach, secure communication is paramount. As Microsoft recommends, “Organizations should develop an out-of-band communication plan for incident responders.”

ArmorText’s Secure Out of Band Collaboration™ platform offers a superior alternative to standard tools, prioritizing security and peace of mind.

Key Benefits for the Energy Sector

ArmorText ensures that your most essential teams and operations—security, incident response, executives, and legal—maintain secure communication, no matter the threat. Your critical conversations remain confidential and protected.

Built for mission-critical needs, ArmorText offers secure messaging, voice, video, and file sharing. Unlike typical tools that can expose data, our patented end-to-end encryption ensures that only authorized users can access information, maintaining compliance and safeguarding sensitive data.

Whether facing a cyber breach, natural disaster, or other disruptions, it’s difficult and expensive to ensure your critical employees always have a corporate device to use. ArmorText’s built-in compliance enables seamless communication and collaboration across any device or network. Our platform operates independently of your existing infrastructure, while maintaining compliance, ensuring you stay connected even when everything else is down.

ArmorText isn’t just for crisis situations. By protecting sensitive data like executive communications and internal procedures “left of bang” (before an incident occurs), you can significantly reduce the potential damage of a successful cyber attack.

Maintain full control over your data with policy enforcement, user management, and federated trust relationships. ArmorText ensures compliance with data lifecycle controls and end-to-end encrypted audit trails so you can focus on your core mission without legal concerns.

Why ArmorText Is Essential for Energy Companies

The energy sector faces unique cybersecurity challenges, making it a prime target for cyberattacks. ArmorText mitigates these risks and ensures secure out-of-band communication, even in the wake of a breach.

• Protecting Vital Infrastructure: Safeguard discussions about infrastructure, maintenance, and operations to prevent disruptions that could jeopardize safety or cause outages.
• Securing Sensitive Data: Incident response playbooks, schematics, protocols and other BCSI data necessary for remediation — ArmorText’s end-to-end encryption feature protects all these confidential data.
• Navigating Regulatory Complexities: ArmorText simplifies compliance with stringent data privacy and protection regulations in the energy industry.
• Responding to Breaches Effectively: Provide a secure platform for coordinating incident response and recovery efforts, enabling out-of-band communication and information sharing without fear of further compromise.

Take the Next Step

After a cyber breach, the energy sector is particularly vulnerable, and standard enterprise collaboration tools can exacerbate the risks. ArmorText’s Secure Out of Band Collaboration™ platform empowers you to protect critical infrastructure, safeguard sensitive data, maintain compliance, and respond effectively to incidents.

Prioritize secure out-of-band communication and collaboration to mitigate risks and ensure business continuity. Don’t let your communication tools become a vulnerability. Contact ArmorText today to fortify your energy company against cyber threats.