Is Cisco Webex Secure for Business Users?

Efficient communication and collaboration are vital aspects of running a successful business. Cisco Webex offers a range of features to facilitate virtual meetings, webinars, and collaborations. However, it is important to evaluate whether Cisco Webex is a secure option for businesses. In this blog post, we will explore the features and benefits of Cisco Webex, along with potential security concerns and measures to safeguard sensitive data.

Learn more about Webex security and compliance from Aware

Contents

• What is Webex by Cisco?
• How do businesses use Cisco Webex?
• 5 Business Benefits of using Webex
• 5 Security Concerns of using Cisco Webex for businesses:
• How does Webex secure sensitive data?
• How does Webex protect user privacy?
• How can users safeguard their data in Cisco Webex?
• How does Aware Support Privacy and Security in Cisco Webex?

What is Webex by Cisco?

The world of work is no longer confined to a 9-5 office. Hybrid, remote, and distributed groups can work around the clock from anywhere in the world. This new style of working needs new tools to facilitate asynchronous communication across teams. Cisco Webex is a leading suite of such tools, designed to enable remote work and enhance productivity.

Using features such as video, instant messaging, and virtual whiteboarding, Webex connects users around the globe, making it an ideal choice for many business applications.

How do businesses use Cisco Webex?

Cisco Webex helps businesses streamline their operations and improve team collaboration. Webex enables companies to host virtual meetings, webinars, training sessions and more with employees, clients, and partners all over the world. This enhances knowledge sharing and professional development in a fraction of the time and cost of international travel. Furthermore, businesses can leverage the team messaging and file-sharing features to facilitate faster, more efficient collaboration across departments and projects.

5 business benefits of using Webex:

1. Increased productivity: Cisco Webex eliminates barriers, enabling teams to collaborate effectively regardless of their location. This boosts productivity by facilitating faster decision-making, reducing delays in communication, and enabling real-time collaboration on projects.
2. Cost-effectiveness: With Webex, businesses can significantly reduce travel expenses associated with in-person meetings. It eliminates the need for flights, accommodation, and other related costs, making it an affordable solution for organizations with global or remote teams.
3. Enhanced flexibility: Webex offers flexible scheduling and meeting options, allowing participants to join meetings from their preferred devices, such as laptops, smartphones, or tablets. This flexibility enables employees to work from anywhere, promoting a healthy work-life balance and accommodating diverse work arrangements.
4. Improved collaboration: The range of features provided by Webex, such as screen sharing, file sharing, and interactive whiteboarding, fosters collaboration and creativity among team members. It promotes brainstorming, idea sharing, and problem-solving in a virtual environment.
5. Scalability: Cisco Webex is designed to support organizations of all sizes, from small businesses to large enterprises. It offers scalable solutions that can accommodate the needs of growing businesses, ensuring that the platform can adapt as the organization expands.

5 security concerns of using Cisco Webex for businesses:

1. Data breaches: Data security is a major concern for businesses using any cloud-based collaboration platform. While Cisco Webex has robust security measures in place, there is always a risk of unauthorized access or data breaches.
2. Phishing attacks: Cybercriminals may attempt to exploit users by sending phishing emails or messages disguised as legitimate Webex communications. This could lead to compromised login credentials or malware installation.
3. Privacy concerns: Organizations must consider the privacy implications of using a third-party platform like Webex. It is important to understand how user data is collected, stored, and utilized by Cisco Systems.
4. Endpoint security: As Webex supports various devices and platforms, ensuring endpoint security becomes crucial. Organizations should implement appropriate security measures on each device accessing the platform to minimize the risk of unauthorized access or data leakage.
5. Compliance requirements: Depending on the industry and location, businesses may have specific compliance requirements related to data privacy and security. It is essential to assess whether Cisco Webex meets these compliance standards.

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How does Webex secure sensitive data?

Cisco takes its users’ data security seriously and implements many security measures as standard. Webex Meetings uses end-to-end encryption as standard, paired with Zero Trust permissions to limit exposure during data transmissions. For cloud storage, Webex offers on-prem hybrid data security (HDS) or bring your own key (BYOK) encryption and key management. Cisco is also compliant with major privacy and security regulations, including GDPR and CCPA.

What sensitive data lurks in collaboration tools? We analyzed 6.6B messages to find out.

How does Webex protect user privacy?

Cisco Webex is committed to user privacy and compliance with data protection regulations. Cisco deploys privacy features such as end-to-end encryption, data retention policies, and user consent mechanisms. Additionally, Cisco provides transparency about their data collection practices and offers options for users to control their data and privacy settings.

How can users safeguard their data in Cisco Webex?

Businesses can’t solely rely on Cisco security measures, but also bear responsibility for securing their data in Webex. Administrators should develop and enforce policies that regulate how employees share sensitive information in workstream collaboration tools.

To limit the risk of threat actors gaining access to their Webex environment, companies should enable 2-factor authentication (2FA) and multi-factor authentication (MFA). Employees should also be trained to recognize phishing, smishing, and social engineering attacks, and know what to do if they receive a suspicious message.

To reduce the risk of threat actors breaching Webex, companies should enable 2-factor authentication (2FA) and multi-factor authentication (MFA). These login methods reduce the likelihood of a third-party being able to login to Webex. In addition, businesses should train employees to recognize phishing, smishing, and social engineering attacks, and know what to do if they receive a suspicious message.

How does Aware support privacy and security in Cisco Webex?

Aware provides all-in-one governance, e-Discovery, DLP and workplace intelligence for Webex by Cisco and other workstream collaboration tools from a single, centralized AI platform. Using industry-leading, proprietary natural language processing (NLP), Aware analyzes Webex messages in real time to flag noncompliant information sharing and automatically notify stakeholders and administrators.

Automated workflows protect sensitive business information around the clock, using both regular expression (regex) and keyword monitoring to identify insider risks as they happen, with fewer false positives. Optical character recognition (OCR) technology supports security in Webex by detecting screenshots and NSFW images, and cutting-edge password and code identification modules surface content that poses the highest risk to the organization.

Final Thoughts

Cisco Webex is a powerful tool for businesses seeking to enhance communication and collaboration. While it offers numerous benefits such as increased productivity, cost savings, and flexibility, it is crucial to address security concerns to ensure the protection of sensitive data. By understanding the security measures implemented by Cisco, being mindful of potential risks, and implementing robust security automations from Aware, businesses can confidently utilize Webex for their communication and collaboration needs.

Learn more about the Aware Webex integration and how to get compliance, security, and next-generation business insights for your collaboration data at scale.