Russian companies have begun to restrict employee communication in messengers

Large Russian companies have begun to restrict employee communication in messengers, customer contacts and discussion of all work issues are being transferred to secure corporate platforms, Izvestia found out.

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According to the sources of the publication, the appropriate measures are already being implemented by X5 Group, the food delivery company Hatimaki. An interlocutor of the publication in a top-10 bank said that the heads of structural divisions that interact with customers strictly control the ban on communication in foreign messengers: regarding banks, such a direct ban was introduced by law as early as June 1, 2025, but there were cases when some managers continued such communication.

"X5 does not prohibit employees from using messengers for personal purposes. At the same time, there is a clear separation between personal communication between employees in messengers and their use for work correspondence. Solutions located inside the company's information infrastructure are used for official communication," the company explained.

Alexander Kirsanov, head of the MTS Link Legal Department, confirmed that in 2025 the business has seriously revised its approaches to information protection. According to him, in addition to the introduction of next-generation antivirus solutions, data encryption, access control, auditing and logging systems, special attention is now being paid to protection against leaks via USB devices and messengers.

"However, the most significant change was the gradual abandonment of single-factor biometrics as the main or only authentication method. Companies are implementing multi—level systems, including so-called live biometrics, which makes it possible to distinguish a real person from an image, mask or deepfake when accessing internal systems," he said.

According to him, the companies' security services are getting new functions and an expanded range of responsibilities. The positions of specialists in detecting deepfakes, as well as monitoring employee activity on social networks, are being introduced.

Read more in the exclusive Izvestia article:

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