Chapter 8.6. of the BayLDA activity report deals with the data protection issues regarding the use of WhatsApp in the professional environment.
A convenient and alternativeless solution?
The desire for simple and, above all, faster handling of communication is very great, especially among companies.
It is not advisable to continue using WhatsApp within the company, as this messenger in particular shares a lot of information within the Facebook group of companies. A merging of this collected data cannot be ruled out in the future either. Pleasant alternatives here are, for example, Threema, SIMSme, Wire, Hoccer and Chiffry.
Precautionary measures
If responsible parties still do not want to do without WhatsApp, the following special features should be noted:
- Professional secrecy holders are generally not allowed to use WhatsApp for professional communication.
- Internal company communication should be carried out via another alternative.
- It is better not to archive message histories.
- Due to access authorizations to the internal memory of the end device, unauthorized access by other installed apps may occur if messages are saved automatically.
- A separate smartphone for the use of WhatsApp or a container solution/mobile device management are recommended.
- If access to the phone book is granted, only those customers who have given their consent may be stored there.
Further information at: https://www.lda.bayern.de/media/baylda_report_08.pdf