How Secure Are Modern Collaboration Platforms?

Password Protection and End-to-End Encryption

For Roopam Jain, vice president of the information and communication technologies practice at Frost & Sullivan, SMBs should be concerned about unauthorized access and the privacy of data shared in meetings.

“Today's meeting platforms have come a long way in offering advanced features that assure users and IT managers that their meetings are fully secure and compliant,” she explains.

Features including end-to-end encryption, waiting rooms to control who joins the meeting, password protected meetings and two-factor authentication all add an extra layer of security. “These capabilities ensure that collaboration platforms provide a secure environment for meetings, protect sensitive business information and maintain privacy,” Jain says.

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Implementing the Right Security Features

Heidi Shey, a principal analyst at Forrester, says while popular tools including Microsoft Teams, Webex and Zoom are “secure for general-purpose use,” the level of required security depends heavily on how the platform is being used.

“Businesses are using them for internal collaboration, so you have a lot of employee communications that could contain sensitive information,” Shey says.

This could range from strategic plans to routine coordination, and the sensitivity of that information shapes the organization’s risk profile. “A lot of it comes down to what that use case is and what information is being conveyed and stored within these platforms,” she adds.

From her perspective, ensuring the correct configuration of features including MFA or encryption of data at rest is critical. “That’s the other side of the responsibility of making the best use of what you are purchasing,” Shey says.

Managing Security Risks

Collaboration platforms carry a range of security risks that SMBs can’t afford to overlook. As data volume grows exponentially, so does the attack surface.

“Too much data makes it harder to detect violations,” Glenn says.

Another layer of complexity comes from regulatory requirements. Most businesses, regardless of size, operate across borders or industries with different compliance rules, for example compliance with SOC 2 or HIPAA.

“This adds serious complexity to how data must be handled and secured,” she explains, noting that noncompliance can quickly become both a legal and reputational risk.

Insider risks—both accidental and malicious—remain a growing issue, compounded by the potential for compromised accounts and external threats such as ransomware. “Collaboration platforms need to adapt to organizational fluidity,” Glenn says. “Otherwise, sensitive data can end up in front of the wrong eyes.” If access controls are weak or misconfigured, she warns, collaboration platforms can become gateways for data loss.

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Threat Landscapes Are Growing More Complex

The collaboration threat landscape is also growing more complex, and SMBs need to be aware of the evolving risks that come with it. “Enterprises of all sizes are generating so much data, and attackers are using this to their advantage,” Glenn explains. Complicating matters is what she calls “tool overload.”

While having the right tools is essential, she warns that many organizations are struggling under the weight of too many disparate solutions.

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“This can lead to incorrect configuration, inconsistent policies and just general confusion,” she says. “This opens the door to preventable vulnerabilities.”

Emerging technologies also bring new risks, with one major concern the “harvest now, decrypt later” strategy, in which attackers exfiltrate encrypted data today with the intention of using future quantum computing technology to break that encryption. Generative AI is also reshaping the threat landscape: While it promises efficiencies, it brings real security challenges.

“Malicious prompts designed to exfiltrate or access confidential or regulated data will go up,” Glenn cautions.

Ultimately, AI will improve the quality of phishing and social engineering attacks, increasing the risk of account compromise. However, in some cases, data may not be encrypted appropriately as it moves through the AI pipeline — from source to model to output — creating new points of exposure.

Best Practices for Bolstering Security

To boost collaboration platform security, SMBs should focus on access controls and data management, Shey says, emphasizing that MFA remains one of the most effective defenses against unauthorized access.

Equally important is information lifecycle management, establishing clear guidelines for what should and shouldn’t be recorded or stored during meetings.

“That’s an easy way to generate lots of sensitive information that’s not being managed appropriately,” Shey says.

Putting these policies in place early can simplify compliance and reduce long-term risk.

This means actively reviewing shared content to determine what needs to be available and what can be retired.

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Foundational data hygiene practices are also critical, including discovery, classification, posture and mapping.

Glenn touts the importance of tagging data with the appropriate classification so privacy and security tools can function effectively.

“Make sure the organization understands exactly who has access to what,” she says. “This helps limit insider risks.”

She adds that IT leaders must understand where their organization stands on the spectrum of security and operational efficiency. That clarity, she argues, is key to knowing where to prioritize security investments.

“For some organizations, keeping business moving is more important than security,” Glenn says. “Your team must understand if the potential fines outweigh the cost of business, and vice versa.”

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