Proofpoint adds Microsoft Teams connector to Content Capture compliance portfolio

These connectors for Proofpoint’s Capture platform have become even more significant because of the transition to Work From Home situations, and the need to keep the same level of retention of collaboration tool data that has been present in offices.

Cybersecurity vendor Proofpoint has announced the launch of Content Capture for Microsoft Teams. It is the latest connector for Proofpoint’s Capture platform, which lets organizations capture, manage, and monitor many digital communications channels like Zoom, Slack and now Office 365, although the platform previously supported Skype for Business. Proofpoint Capture seamlessly integrates with the broader Proofpoint compliance portfolio, including Enterprise Archive, Intelligent Supervision, and eDiscovery Analytics.

Demand for Content Capture has escalated with the pandemic and the broad move to Work From Home environments.

“When we had our annual Protect conference in September, because of everyone working form home, Content Capture was top of mind,” said Tim Choi, VP of Product Marketing at Proofpoint. “As employees work from home, they need to leverage collaboration tools. The challenge is that the home office is not at the same level of verification, but the same need for compliance is there. Supporting them has become a C level – sometimes even a board level – discussion. It is important to ensure that even though employees are working remotely, we can ensure that content in their collaboration solutions is still captured.”

Zoom and Slack are the major applications supported by connectors, but there are many others, including Cisco Jabber and SMS messaging.

Tim Choi, VP of Product Marketing at Proofpoint

“We had always built connectors,” Choi added. “When COVID first hit, we made the one for Zoom a free offering. But with so many organizations moving to Office 365, this became a top of mind matter. We had supported Skype for Business previously and a lot of organizations were still on Skype for Business. That migration path had to take place, which is why this is just being announced now.”

The Capture solution records messages and content in native format, including text and images, to preserve the original context of messages and content both at point of capture and in transport. It records edits and deletions of captured content, and ensures that what has been captured is stored with complete accuracy.

“For regulated industries or ones subject to litigious situations, this is very much top of mind, as they face fines for non-compliance should investigations take place,” Choi said. “Speed and performance are very important elements for regulated industries, particularly the ability to perform searches. These were not always the case in eDiscovery solutions. We pride ourselves in ability to do this with speed.”

The Teams connector brings all the conversations and chats into the eDiscovery platform.

“We have architected the solution so you can use our connector in connection with our platform, but also use the same connector with third parties,” Choi said. “The urgency to deploy is now. We want to make sure its universal for everyone to use.”

Choi also stressed that Content Capture for Microsoft Teams provides a very deep level of visibility and analysis

“We are uniquely people centric, with a rich dashboard that shows where individuals have not been adhering to requirements, for either negligent or malicious reasons,” he said. “In the former case, the user will see when additional training will be required.”

Choi said that all of this adds up to a very strong channel opportunity

“This is an area where there is a critical problem with urgency to solve it,” he emphasized. “It’s important for partners to engage in this.”