iMessage Surveillance

With 1.3 billion users, iMessage is one of the more popular messaging apps. When an employee of a regulated company uses iMessage to carry out business-related conversations with a client, it is the company’s responsibility to ensure that these conversations are monitored and stored in accordance with regulations. 

How Can Companies Engage in iMessage Surveillance?

In order to surveil employee usage of iMessage, companies have two options. They can either use iCloud’s backup feature  or another third-party tool that enables them to archive and download iMessages stored on employees’ phones.

The downside of using iCloud backup is the lack of granular control that the company has over the data. It is also difficult to scale and raises some privacy concerns. A better option, especially for companies in highly-regulated industries, is to use a third-party solution that is specifically designed to capture and archive communications, including those using iMessage. 

Is iMessage Surveillance a Violation of Employee Privacy?

iMessage surveillance, along with all communication monitoring, must walk the fine line between complying with regulations and protecting employee and client privacy.

This becomes even more complicated when employees use their personal devices for work-related conversations and companies need to differentiate between which messages are business-related and need to be captured as opposed to personal messages which must be left alone.

Companies must make their policies very clear to employees so that they understand that any business-related conversations, regardless of the platform or device on which they take place, are technically the property of the company and will be monitored, captured, and stored in accordance with regulations.

The Consequences of Non-Compliance with iMessage Surveillance

When companies fail to comply with communication-related regulations, they are subject to hefty fines. For example, while Deloitte had a communication capture solution in place, the solution they were using was incompatible with iMessage. As a result, the company decided to ban employees from using iMessage. Unfortunately for Deloitte, employees continued using iMessage anyway, and the company did not take any action to prevent this use.

Although it took a few years for the discrepancy to be discovered by the authorities, FINRA fined Deloitte $200,000 in 2023. 

How LeapXpert Can Help

In March 2022, LeapXpert became the first solution to include iMessage in the suite of messaging apps the platform is able to monitor. With LeapXpert, businesses can communicate with their clients using the messaging app of the client’s choice, now including iMessage. All business-related conversations that take place over the app are automatically captured and archived, ready to be made accessible to regulators should the need arise. 

 

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