Slack Discloses in SEC Filings That it’s a Target for Malicious Attacks

Slack Discloses in SEC Filings That it’s a Target for Malicious Attacks

Ahead of one of the most anticipated initial public offerings (IPOs) of 2019, Slack Technologies Inc. in its filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), warned investors that it’s a prime target for nation-scale hacking groups. This according to a report by Motherboard, published April 26, 2019.

A Prime Target for Data Thieves

San Francisco-based software company Slack’s SEC filings suggest that the company is expecting malicious cyber attacks from “sophisticated organized crime, nation-state, and nation-state supported actors.”

Per Slack’s S-1 securities registration form filed with the SEC, the $7.1 billion corporate believes it could face threats from organized crime and nation-state actors. According to the document, the company could be targeted by “traditional computer hackers” via malware, viruses, ransomware, phishing, credential stealing, and denial-of-service attacks.

It’s worth highlighting that the document doesn’t claim that such attacks have actually happened. Rather, it only identifies threats from these bad actors as an active risk to the company.

The company in its S-1 filing also mentioned that its data was breached in March 2015. During the four days long attack, an unidentified person or a group of persons had uninterrupted access to Slack’s data repository which included user names, email addresses, encrypted passwords, and other confidential information.

Soon after this incident, the company introduced two-factor authorization (2FA) to bolster its service’s security measures.

A $16 Billion Giant

Interestingly enough, Slack hasn’t yet implemented end-to-end encryption for messages. This means that third-parties can easily download and read an individual’s entire Slack history without their permission or knowledge.

It also means that anything said on Slack could be held against a person in court.

Notably, the workplace-messaging company recently reported a net loss of $139 million which has raised a few eyebrows on Wall Street. The company, planning to go public through an unusual listing route, revealed that it incurred a net loss of $139 million for the year ending January 31, 2019. Slack reported $140 million net loss for the corresponding period of the previous year.

Further, the company’s Class B shares have also been changing hands in private markets for as much as $23.41 in 2019 through January.

According to data gathered by Bloomberg, Slack’s shareholders have sold stock at prices as high as $25 or $26 a share, which has investors estimating its market valuation at almost $16 billion.

Published at Tue, 30 Apr 2019 21:44:39 +0000