JPMorgan fined $200m for mis-use of WhatsApp

JPMorgan Securities has agreed to pay $200 million in fines over issues related to employees’ ‘widespread’ use of unapproved communications methods like WhatsApp.  Two US regulators, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, found that employees had been discussing business matters outside of approved channels.  More details here: https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/17/jpmorgan-agrees-to-125-million-fine-for-letting-employees-use-whatsapp-to-evade-regulators.html

$200m is a heavy price for any organisation to pay, not to mention the reputational damage.  In addition, those individuals who get caught using non-approved methods of communication, could stand to lose their jobs as well.

Traders losing their jobs

This is the latest in a series of high profile cases where communicating via social media apps (such as WhatsApp) has resulted in senior personnel losing their jobs.  In October 2021, Morgan Stanley’s most senior commodities traders departed after the firm discovered they had been using WhatsApp and had failed to supervise the use of communications within the commodities team. Whilst no wrong-doing has been found, it reflects Wall Street’s continued clampdown on communications channels that it cannot monitor.  Federal law requires financial firms to keep meticulous records of electronic messages between brokers and clients so regulators can make sure those firms aren’t skirting anti-fraud or antitrust laws.

Armour has the answer

Armour provides an alternative to WhatsApp that is every bit as convenient and easy to use.  Armour Mobile has many additional security features (there’s more to security than simply end-to-end encryption – although that is important), such as:

• centrally managed communities – so users know that they are communicating with genuine, authenticated contacts – dramatically reducing the chance of deep fake scams;
• no requirement to use a personal cell phone number – any unique identifier can be used, safeguarding staff against having to divulge their personal numbers to colleagues;
• enterprise fast and secure provisioning for new users via one-time use QR codes.

As well as these superior security features, and broad functionality that covers voice, video, messaging, group chat and conferencing, Armour Mobile also has Archive and Audit capabilities making it compliant with industry regulations and GDPR.

Recall by Armour – Archive and Audit capabilities

Armour Mobile and Armour Desktop support an additional module of the Armour product range that provides audit capability enabling its secure communications (messages, attachments and audio) to be captured in their entirety within the centralised audit system, allowing retrospective analysis of all conversations.  Each entry within the audit system is stored in its original, fully encrypted form, protecting it as securely as when it was transmitted over-the-air.  The decrypted content can only be retrieved when an auditor with sufficient privileges has access to the Recall audit tools, to the audit records, and has been given access to the key material relating to the specific user to be audited, allowing the auditor to perform the necessary decryption tasks.

Here are the key points:

• With an on-premises installation, the Armour system can be set up to support a centralised audit record that will enable the details of every message, attachment and audio call to be securely stored for later review.
• All transmitted media (text, attachments and audio) are archived in the audit database.
• Authorised access to audit records requires an auditor to request the encryption keys for a specific user from an administrator who has sufficient rights to provide these keys.
• All access to audit files are themselves audited to provide a full history of events.
• In order to review calls, auditors require access to a special set of Armour Recall audit tools.

For more information about how Armour Comms can help your organisation avoid the risk of crippling fines and reputational damage by using an enterprise secure communications system that includes archiving sensitive conversations.

Contact us today: sales@armourcomms.com