Slack, the email killer, takes world by storm

Slack is a corporate collaboration tool and its main aim is to replace email.

Slack is a corporate collaboration tool and its main aim is to replace email.

The app, available across multiple platforms, including Android, iOS, Mac and PC, allows businesses to simplify communications. It also offers file-sharing and project management through an easy-to-use interface.

It was launched in San Francisco in February last year and received 8000 customers in its first 24 hours. The company is now valued at about $US2.8 billion ($3.8bn).

The tech savvy are touting Slack as a superior option to email, with users spending about 10 hours logged into the app every day. Those who use it claim that everyday tasks like file sharing and having team conversations is far easier than email.

Slack describes what it does is “all your communication in one place, instantly searchable, and available wherever you go”.

Slack customers include Adobe, TheNew York Times, HBO and Expedia, and the start-up is now rumoured to be scouting an Australian presence.

In March Slack confirmed a breach in a database storing user information such as names, email addresses and encrypted passwords.

The breach prompted Slack to upgrade security with two-factor authentication and a “password kill switch” that immediately resets the passwords of everyone in a team.

Even so, that database breach led some security researchers to criticise Slack for questionable practices.

For example, any company that uses Slack can find their sub-domain through Google. This means if would-be hackers wish to know which companies use Slack they can perform a simple Google search.

Slack’s servers are inside Amazon’s AWS data centres, which are distributed worldwide. Most of these server centres are in the US, but there are some in Sydney.

Slack’s terms of service guarantee “reasonable business practices for IT security” and promise “additional security controls as deemed necessary”.

If Slack experiences an outage in the US it would potentially disrupt Australian users.

The app offers a free version but charges businesses a monthly fee of $US6.50 or more for additional corporate features.

The Australian government wouldn’t be entirely on its own in using Slack, with the US Department of State using the tool within its Bureau of International Information Programs.