The news about WhatsApp’s privacy policy last month sparked a mass exodus to other messaging apps and an important conversation around data privacy. WhatsApp is the most widely-used mobile app in the workplace, which means that for businesses the conversation around data privacy – and where their employees might be headedis a huge concern. Free messaging apps aren’t built for businesses and can cause all kinds of problems when it comes to compliance, admin control and, of course, data privacy. These are problems that Vaporstream, a paid app built for businesses, simply doesn’t have. So, what does that mean when it comes to employees using a free app versus Vaporstream in the same situation? Let’s take a look.

Free Apps Strip You of Control in Sensitive Situations

Joe and Jane are two police officers working a case together. Joe has acquired a search warrant and needs to share it with Jane and confirm that she’s received it, but Jane is not in office. He opens a free messaging app and quickly messages over the warrant to Jane. Jane downloads the document, notes it, and then responds back to Joe confirming she’s seen the warrant with a few thoughts on the case. Only, Jane accidentally messages her neighbor Joe, instead of her colleague. This a breach of sensitive information.

So, what went wrong here besides Jane accidentally messaging deeply sensitive information to a non-officer? The minute Joe hit send, the search warrant was out of his hands. Jane was able to download it to her device and could share it with anyone she wanted. Not only that, but there was no system in place to properly archive the conversation to meet any record requirements.

Now imagine the same situation with Vaporstream. This time, Joe sends the search warrant and receives an immediate confirmation when Jane receives it. When Jane writes back, it’s impossible for her to accidentally message her neighbor, Joe, because he is not part of the department and she can only contact her colleagues on Vaporstream. And even if she did accidentally send a message to the wrong colleague, she could immediately delete the conversation from the recipient’s device. Meanwhile, the entire conversation is recorded and archived for record requirement purposes.

Free Apps Put Data at Risk

Here’s another example: Mary is a clinician and Bob a nurse in in the same clinic. They regularly communicate using a free, encrypted app. One day, Mary gets message from an unknown number, claiming to be Bob. He got a new number, he says, and forgot the password to log into the admin system– can Mary help him? Mary sends over the information. A few days later, the clinic realizes their system has been hacked and patient information compromised – because that wasn’t really Bob.

Many people assume that when it comes to protecting sensitive information like PHI, encryption – which many free apps offer – is enough. It’s not. While it does offer some level of protection, it doesn’t protect against things like a hacker using phishing tactics like in the case of Bob and Mary in order to gain access to sensitive information. The result is that patient safety is placed at risk, HIPAA is violated and the clinic is at risk of major fines and reputation loss.

With Vaporstream, the situation described above could never happen. Only people who are authorized by admin controls can contact eachother on Vaporstream. That means that there is no way someone impersonating Bob could attempt to trick Mary into giving up sensitive information – protecting patient privacy and ensuring HIPAA compliance.

Vaporstream Keeps You In Control at All Times

The upshot? Vaporstream is your safest choice for workplace communications. Our business model depends on preserving the privacy of your data and we empower you to control your own data at all times. We also make it simple for you to share files, make phone calls, message, video chat, have group chats and automate messages. Learn more about how we can support your needs here:

NowSecure: Vaporstream Puts Privacy at the Forefront of Its Flagship App

Why Vaporstream