Due to its ease of use, many individuals now utilize texting for communication in many circles. One may text a friend to arrange a meeting time or to send a quick note. This practice has become so common that employees now use it to communicate among co-workers. However, this can be dangerous to a company’s security in a workplace setting.

ZDNet contributor James Kendrick stated that when service carriers began offering nearly free texting, it sparked the widespread use of SMS seen today.

“This ease of use has led texting to make its way to the workplace,” Kendrick wrote.

Furthermore, Kendrick pointed out that increased adoption of bring-your-own-device practices has also helped to fuel the texting fire. Because more workers utilize smartphones for work purposes, they are increasingly tempted to text other employees in favor of contacting them through other channels.

Although many utilize texting to contact co-workers, sending such a message can affect a company’s image, especially when sent to an affiliate or partner, Kendrick said. Sending a text message containing company information is not only insecure, it can make the company look lazy and unprofessional.

Unified communication offers secure communication platform
However, Kendrick pointed out that if a message contains anything associated with the company, it should be treated as an important communication. Therefore, employees should consider what platform they utilize before sending off sensitive business information.

Unified communication and collaboration as a service, or UCCaaS, can offer a more unified, secure platform for communication within an organization. Additionally, such technology offers multiple channels through which employees can connect and collaborate with one another, including messaging services, IP-based calling and videoconferencing. These are not only more secure than texting, but they also allow employees to send messages and speak with one another while connecting over video if they so choose.

With a widely available service like text messaging, businesses should consider how their internal networks and sensitive information can be put at risk. The National contributor Martin Croucher stated that cybercriminals regularly find new ways to hack smartphones. In addition, security experts said that approximately half of all smartphone users were cybercrime victims last year. Such attacks can include malware infections that can snoop and steal information from within a smartphone. Security expert David Michaux said hackers can access information contained within text messages in several different ways.

“We’ve seen situations where phones have been Trojaned, and every text message you send or receive is then forwarded to a website,” Michaux said.

Such a breach could seriously compromise company security, and employees should only utilize secure avenues, like UCaaS tools, to transmit information associated with the business.

Furthermore, more organizations are beginning to utilize UCaaS tools for internal communications. Canalys predicted that worldwide UCaaS revenues will reach $4.1 billion by 2017, growing by 18.8 percent annually on average over the next five years. This demonstrates the value and security of such technology, and as more employees utilize this form of communication within a business setting, text messages will become a thing of the past.

Businesses looking to implement UCCaaS can utilize FlexITy’s unified communication solutions for a secure way to transmit sensitive information from a trusted service provider.

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