Security News > 2022 > September > Ever suspected bankers could just use WhatsApp comms? $1.8b says you're right

Ever given a colleague a quick Signal call so you can sidestep a monitored workplace app? Well, we'd hope you're not in a highly regulated industry like staff at eleven of the world's most powerful financial firms, who yesterday were fined nearly $2 billion for off-channel comms.

Banking giants including Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, and Citigroup agreed to pay $1.1 billion in penalties from the US Securities and Exchange Commission and $710 million in fines from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in separate actions on Tuesday for failing to monitor and stop their workers from using unauthorized messaging apps.

The companies yesterday admitted their staff, including senior investment bankers and equity traders, regularly shot the breeze on WhatsApp and other "Unapproved" private channels.

The agency went on to say that secret squirrel comms failings had occurred across all "16 firms", adding that it had "Involved employees at multiple levels of authority, including supervisors and senior executives."

The agency also said it was looking at allegations of similar misconduct at another "Major financial institution" registered with the CFTC in the matter, citing a 2021 complaint where a dollar-swaps trader at a global investment bank was alleged to have deleted WhatsApp comms after the division made an order that he retain all communication on messaging apps including Facebook, Whatsapp, Telegram, Slack, or Signal, including any backed up versions in cloud storage etc.

The Register is keen to hear any of your solutions to the sticky shadow comms problem.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/09/28/shadow_it_hedge_funds_wall_street/