Slack rolls out enterprise key management, but has no plans for end-to-end encryption

Slack has given large business customers control over the keys used to encrypt and decrypt data created in its team collaboration application.  The enterprise key management (EKM) feature was initially unveiled at the company’s Frontiers event in San Francisco in September, ahead of a closed pilot project; it is now available to all customers of Enterprise Grid, which is targeted at company-wide deployments at large organizations. EKM allows businesses to better secure sensitive stored data, including messages, files and comments. The feature has been been “one of the most requested features in the enterprise and is opening up the doors for new industries for us like banking and professional services,” said Ilan Frank, head of enterprise product at Slack. The addition of EKM should help Slack appeal to prospective Enterprise Grid customers, said Irwin Lazar, vice president and service director at Nemertes Research. Two years after its launch, Enterprise Grid is now used by 150 businesses, including Capital One and 21st Century Fox.