Zero trust. You know it’s important. You know you want to implement it in your organization. And you know it could make Slack way more secure – especially given the recent Uber breach!
But there’s a problem. Moving from concept to reality is proving mighty difficult.
You’re not alone.
96% of security decision-makers state that zero trust is critical to their organization’s security, but successful implementation is waning due to a lack of time, subject expertise and technical skills to get things moving.
Unfortunately, while companies grapple with the hurdles of moving towards zero trust in SaaS apps like Slack, hackers are having a field day. We’ve already mentioned the Uber breach – but that’s not the only one. Rockstar Games, EA and many more have suffered data breaches because they hadn’t yet managed to implement zero trust in Slack.
Fear not, though! Below, we’ll help you understand how to genuinely achieve zero trust in Slack, so you can move into 2023 more confident in your SaaS security posture.
Here’s what you need to know.
How does zero trust work in SaaS apps like Slack?
Ok, buckle up because we’re about to get a little technical. We firmly believe that the foundation of successful implementation is understanding. After all, you can’t ride a bike without knowing how to cycle.
The same goes for Slack and zero trust. You need to know how zero trust works in the cloud, what the benefits are, and the solutions you need.
For *ultimate* zero trust in Slack, you need to create an environment that authenticates and authorizes user access consistently as they use Slack.
While multi-factor authentication is the first-step towards zero trust, it only authenticates users at the beginning of their session. Once they’re in the application, they can roam free, exploring, editing, maybe even stealing whatever data they choose.
This isn’t true zero trust, just a foundational step. By contrast, holistic zero trust enables you to continuously authenticate the user in real-time throughout their session, using risk-based analysis to maintain compliance and data security.
Zero trust for Slack achieves this through the use of a contextual risk engine that assesses the user as they go about different activities. Based on the organization’s pre-defined levels of risk tolerance, compliance mandates and sensitive data policies, the engine then grants, prohibits or limits access to certain resources in Slack.
All of this means that, in the event of credentials compromise, your sensitive information in Slack stays safe. It’s not enough for a hacker to break into an account anymore, they’d need to jump through several, impossible hoops to access your sensitive information.
Not only that, but holistic zero trust also encapsulates security alerting, so your security team is empowered to quickly discover evidence of malicious activity, be it an exploited account or an insider threat.
Speaking of insiders, for your employees, zero trust is designed to deliver a seamless experience. While a malicious actor won’t pass the contextual verifications needed to access sensitive information, your employees will be able to access what they need it, when they need it – and only use this data in a compliant, secure way.
Sounds too good to be true? It’s not!
It’s fair to say that zero trust sounds like a security professional’s dream for SaaS environments like Slack.
Through the powers of automation, risk-based analysis and contextual policies, you can achieve a security environment that is more secure than ever before, while also easing the burden on overworked IT and security professionals.
You might think zero trust for Slack is a pipe dream – but it’s not!
Achieve Slack zero trust in minutes with Polymer DLP
That image we painted above? Of the super intelligent engine that secures your data and authenticates your users dynamically in Slack? That’s what Polymer data loss prevention (DLP) delivers.
Using a unique self-learning engine and super-fast risk analysis, our DLP tool brings zero trust directly to Slack – and apps like GitHub, Google Workspace, Box and Teams.
Here’s a little look at how Polymer is revolutionizing zero trust for SaaS:
Data discovery and classification faster than the speed of light
If Polymer DLP took an IQ test, it would probably be smarter than Einstein! We’ve carefully fed our self-learning engine vital information about data security and compliance for HIPAA, GDPR and other regulations.
So, once you install our no-code platform (which takes minutes) our tool can get to work straight away, scanning your Slack environment automatically for signs of sensitive information like PII and PHI in both structured and unstructured formats.
Worried about confidential information that doesn’t come under compliance? You can also add unique policies that assist the engine in discovering and protecting the information most important to you.
24/7 monitoring of your sensitive data
Polymer DLP doesn’t sleep! The engine monitors your SaaS applications 24/7, empowering you with real-time visibility over where your data is, who’s attempting to access it, and any potential violations that a user has thwarted.
Zero trust security across Slack and other SaaS apps
Now for the good stuff! Zero trust in Slack. Polymer DLP uses contextual authentication factors to protect sensitive information from malicious actors, unlawful access and compromise. Our engine looks at factors such as the user’s identity, the activity being performed, the nature of the data, and the file’s type and location to make a risk-based judgment.
In essence, this means that, even if a hacker breaks into one of your user’s Slack accounts, they won’t get away with any idea!
Better yet, our platform is agnostic. It works across all your SaaS applications, so you don’t have to worry about enforcing policies and remediating risks through tons of separate consoles. We solve all your data security issues, and empower a zero trust environment, through one intuitive, centralized portal.
Supercharged incident response
Our engine knows your security team is busy, so its alert system is streamlined. Polymer DLP will take care of simple policy violations like a user making an error, but if it detects that someone could be trying to steal data, it will sound the alarm so you can take a closer look.
Educate users to improve security in the long-term
Enforcing security policies is all well and good, but we also want to help your employees become security champions! So, we’ve created a helpful, friendly bot that integrates directly into your SaaS apps. When a user violates one of your policies, we explain why they can’t make that move, in language they understand, so they’ll know better next time.
Audit anxiety alleviated
While all of this is going on, Polymer DLP autonomously creates an inventory of all security events, in line with compliance requirements, so any audits you need to undertake are a complete breeze.
Do you have trust in your SaaS apps?
Worried about a Slack data breach? Concerned about data sprawl in your SaaS apps? Try out a free risk scan to uncover the state of Slack security in your company.
