He or she may also remain in work chat groups, and therefore may continue to be privy to messages containing proprietary information. Among other things, this also means that when an employee leaves a company, he or she may take sensitive company data stored on his or her phone. A company may spend millions to build a state-of-the-art network, yet employees repeatedly send sensitive and confidential business information over unsecure networks and personal messaging accounts. WeChat, which is mostly used in China, has hit more than 1 billion active monthly users, most of whom have joined in the last seven years, according to Statista.Įmployees are increasingly using these apps to communicate about business matters, creating serious compliance risks in at least four areas, as outlined below.ĭata security. This article outlines the rapid rate of adoption of such apps, surveys the resulting risks, discusses the views of US regulators and explores practical ways that companies might mitigate these risks.īy the third quarter of 2018, there were 1.3 billion monthly active users of Facebook Messenger and 1.5 billion monthly active users of WhatsApp globally. These mobile communication tools offer significant benefits, but they also open the door to serious compliance and regulatory risks, many of which have never been encountered previously. In Asia, where the adoption rate of such technologies has been nothing short of astounding, instant messages are already surpassing email as the primary mode of work communication. Instant messaging apps such as WeChat, WhatsApp and QQ are having a profound impact on the way people communicate around the world.