Risks of Sharing Information through Unofficial Channels
Why avoid personal channels for work data
Using your personal email, a personal messaging chat or your own USB drive to move work information may seem like a quick solution when the official system fails or feels slow, but it takes that information out of the environment the organization controls and puts it somewhere the same protections and backups no longer apply. An unofficial channel doesn't have the access controls, encryption or monitoring that the company's approved tools do, which means that if that personal channel is compromised, the work information is compromised along with it without the security team having any way of knowing in time. In addition, once data leaves through an unofficial channel, you lose track of who else may have had access, which makes investigating an incident enormously harder if something goes wrong later. When an official tool doesn't work well, reporting it and waiting for an approved alternative, instead of solving it on your own with a personal channel, protects both the organization and yourself from liabilities you'd rather avoid.