Effective collaboration with colleagues, partners and customers is desirable, but several regulatory agencies are issuing recommendations or even warnings on the use of GDPR-compliant software:
1. The German federal commissioner for data protection, Ulrich Kelber, recently warned against the use of WhatsApp in federal authorities.
2. The European Commission has even completely banned the use of WhatsApp for employees of its ministries.
3. Maja Smoltczyk, the Berlin representative for data protection and information security, also advises against the use of services and software that are not secure or are not acceptable under data protection law.
We want to take this as an opportunity to give a brief overview of our understanding of strong data protection. The customers of our secure messaging app are often enterprises and authorities from the regulated industries (e.g. security authorities, healthcare, financial service providers, critical infrastructure) and have very high data protection and security requirements. Teamwire offers such customers complete data protection – without any compromise:
Maximum Data Sovereignty for the Customer
The customers of Teamwire determine which data may be accessed, where data shall be stored and how long data is kept. Depending on the data retention requirements, our messaging app enables enterprises and public authorities to automatically delete stored data from the servers or devices at regular intervals with the help of data retention policies. Enterprises and public authorities can also set organization-wide rules for accessing and exchanging data with our messaging app. In general, Teamwire sees itself as an easily configurable service that fully implements all of a customer’s data protection requirements. Our customers enjoy the greatest possible data sovereignty.
Principle of Data Economy and Data Avoidance
Teamwire only processes data when it is necessary to provide the service to its customers. Our messaging app was primarily developed for the secure and confidential communication of enterprises, public authorities and healthcare. Accordingly, Teamwire is based on a strong data protection and “Privacy by Design” concept to protect enterprise and government data as much as possible. That’s why Teamwire uses as little data as possible. For example, personal data is only accessed if it is absolutely necessary for security or administrative reasons.
Free Choice of the Storage Location of the Data – German Cloud, Private Cloud or On-Premise
Our customers have the choice of the location at which Teamwire is operated and, accordingly, all data is stored: in the German cloud, in a private cloud or on an on-premise server. In the case of a private cloud or on-premise solution of our enterprise messaging app, customers can freely choose the data center and location themselves. If you choose the German cloud, all data will only be stored in a data center in Germany.
Complete Data Encryption
Teamwire is a fully encrypted enterprise messaging app. Teamwire transmits and stores all data encrypted – both on the end devices and on the servers. In addition, all metadata is encrypted and messages between sender and recipient are encrypted end to end. In addition, personal data are anonymized as far as possible. The apps also have a secure container that is configured according to the customer’s security requirements. In this respect, our secure messaging app protects all data from enterprises and public authorities with complete encryption and a comprehensive security concept.
No Analysis of Metadata or User Profiles
At Teamwire there are no hidden analysis of metadata, user behavior or communication. Our secure messaging app also does not save users’ address books and does not analyze the social networks which they contain. Teamwire’s business model is based on an annual software license fee that enterprises and government agencies pay us for providing the service and protecting their data. Consequently, we have no interest whatsoever and no need to analyze or exploit user profiles or metadata for advertising, political or other measures.
No Sharing of Data with 3rd Party Systems
The connection of third-party systems to Teamwire is under the central management of the customer. Enterprises and public authorities can fully control the data flows and prevent uncontrolled data leaks. Our messaging app processes data only after express consent and in accordance with the data protection laws. That is why we naturally do not pass on any data to third parties.
GDPR-Compliant Enterprise Messaging App
Teamwire ensures strong data protection and fully meets all requirements of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). You can find out how our enterprise messaging app protects personal data comprehensively and in a legally compliant manner in our GDPR overview.
German Company, German Terms, European Law
Teamwire is the product of a German company with its headquarters in Munich. All our contracts (e.g. terms and conditions, data protection policy, order data processing agreement, etc.) are based on German law and high European standards. Customers in Europe in particular will be familiar with our legal standards and our opinion of strong data protection will certainly suit them. In addition to a very customer-oriented organization, this is probably one of the reasons why Teamwire has not had a single legal conflict in its company history.
Contact Us for More Information
If you would like to learn more about Teamwire’s data protection or are interested in a trial version of our secure messaging app for enterprises, public authorities and healthcare, please contact us.