![]() “We want minimize attack vectors,” he said. The idea at the core of Semaphor is maximizing the efficacy of encryption, the process of scrambling the contents of a message using a complex algorithm so that only the intended recipient is able to unscramble and read it. McCamon realized that if SpiderOak had this need, there would certainly be other organizations that want something similar to Slack except built from the ground up with the philosophy of minimizing every possible avenue though which data could leak. Launched a few weeks ago, Semaphor has about 5,000 users. ![]() McCamon’s team at SpiderOak created Semaphor to solve that very problem: how to get the functionality of Slack while doing everything possible to keep hackers out. They saw how a collaboration tool like Slack could make their lives easier, but, as people who build cybersecurity products for a living, they couldn’t help but be worried about the implications of moving to Slack. SpiderOak is based in Kansas City, Missouri, but the majority of its employees are scattered across the globe. If an attacker looking to inflict maximum damage to your reputation had access to each one, which would provide more potent material? In the case of the DNC, the politically motivated attacker-a hacker going by the name Guccifer 2.0, who steadfastly insists he has no connection to the Russian government-targeted the party’s email system and continues to release a trove of embarrassing internal emails to the public that resulted in the resignation of much of the DNC’s senior leadership.įor readers who use both regularly use both email and collaboration tools like Slack, think about the different types of conversations you have on each platform. “The informality of communication on collaboration tools is terrifying.” That malware is then used to take control of the user’s device and gain access to the online systems to which that users had access. While the intrusion method used by attackers to gain access to the DNC‘s computer systems are unknown-or, at least, haven’t been revealed to the public-it’s likely that someone with access to the DNC’s systems was targeted in a spear-phishing attack, which is when a user is tricked into clicking on a link or downloading an attachment that downloads malware onto their computer. McCamon points to what happened after the hack at the Democratic National Committee as a worst-case scenario revealing how collaboration platforms like Slack could create major liabilities for organizations. In 2014, former NSA contractor and international man of mystery Edward Snowden urged people to stop using Dropbox and switch to SpiderOak’s cloud storage system instead. For over a decade, SpiderOak has been building encrypted communication products for anyone paranoid enough to think that someone might be spying on their communications. McCamon knows a thing of two about cybersecurity. But they don’t think about chat like that. ![]() “Even young people today know that when you type an email, you need to think about what you put in an email because that lives forever. “The informality of communication on collaboration tools is terrifying,” McCamon said. However, SpiderOak President Mike McCamon can’t help but see a giant fly in Slack’s ointment. ![]() For companies that had spent previous decades inundated with email, Slack felt like a liberating glimpse into the future of enterprise communication. But is the rise of group-chat apps putting organizations at risk?Īt its core, Slack allows individuals and organizations to create a litany of chat rooms to collaborate on projects and post animated GIFs. It took about eight months for Slack to grow from nothing into a billion dollar company.
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