The Scottish Government’s decision to ban WhatsApp and other consumer-grade messaging apps for official business marks a pivotal moment in the evolution of secure and accountable workplace communication. This move, announced by Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes, reflects the urgent need for transparency, data sovereignty, and secure communication channels in modern governance. At Wire, we couldn’t agree more with this direction.

WhatsApp, the ubiquitous communication tool used for everything from family check-ins, party planning, unsanctioned work communications , and even the occasional cat meme. The app makes staying in touch incredibly easy. So easy in fact that WhatsApp is often used, whether purposefully or not, as a tool for corporate messaging and calling. For any business that has sensitive data to protect or keep private, there are many reasons why using WhatsApp for enterprise communication is a terrible idea.

When American tech giants pitch their cloud services as the answer to Europe's data sovereignty needs, they often use the term "sovereign platforms" to suggest they can offer the highest levels of security and compliance with European laws. However, these claims can be misleading, and trusting US-based companies with critical data might come with significant risks, particularly for public institutions, enterprises, and citizens in the EU.

As 2024 draws to a close, we’re looking back at ground breaking year for Wire and the ever-evolving world of secure communication and collaboration. From innovations like Message Layer Security (MLS) to our strategic investments, it’s been a year of growth, milestones, and setting the stage for an ambitious future. Here’s a recap of what Wire achieved this year to make your work life easier and still as secure as it gets.

What happens when you have an unrelenting push for openness, collaboration, digital experience, and employee empowerment but also want to keep your sensitive data safe from unrelenting predation? Welcome to the tense stand-off called out by speaker after speaker at Gartner Symposium/Xpo 2024 in Barcelona. We had the pleasure of spending a few days attending sessions, meeting with analysts, and networking with others in Barcelona. Here are some of our take-aways.

Another day, another depressing tale of wide-open-by-design collaboration software from tech giants, that leads to easy exploitation by hackers. This time, it’s Microsoft Teams opening the door for phishing attackers to send federated Teams server messages to organizations who didn’t have sufficient paranoia to close the biggest open door ever into their internal communications.

It’s no secret that the need for secure communications is bigger than ever. Online threats are more sophisticated, and getting worse as bad actors leverage tools like generative AI. If you're not worried about how to protect your organization, then you haven’t been paying attention. From sensitive client data to proprietary information, unsecured communication is a large and attractive target.

Enterprise messaging and collaboration tools are central to how work gets done today. In many organizations, message channels and video calls are where the most sensitive business topics are discussed and proprietary data is exchanged. Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Slack are popular, IT-supported collaboration platforms for larger organizations. Smaller organizations or independent teams often use Whatsapp or Discord as stand-ins. This type of communication isn’t optional.

No one likes writing documentation, but everyone needs it—especially in government projects. Balancing the fast-paced world of innovation with the formal demands of government documentation is not easy for startups. Let’s explore common challenges on both sides—what organizations face and what government teams expect—and offers best practices on how to tackle them, keeping things agile and manageable.

Working on a software project with an agile methodology means delivering constant improvements in small increments. This translates to frequent changes on the product level (what the product offers, how the user experience works) and on the technical level (how it works under the hood). Organizations typically track these changes using a ticketing system, such as Atlassian Jira, where tickets describe what needs to be implemented.