AWS Messaging Blog

Secure collaboration and file sharing with AWS Wickr

File sharing has become an integral part of collaboration. However, when security protocols aren’t enforced, businesses expose themselves to the risk of data loss.

Whether you’re exchanging documents with colleagues, sharing information with partners, or transferring sensitive data, insecure file sharing can lead to unauthorized access and security incidents. Although no organization is completely immune to data loss, the increasing frequency of cyber threats underscores the need for mitigation strategies.

This post highlights how AWS Wickr can help you protect sensitive data and securely share files as part of a balanced approach to security and compliance.

The need to safeguard communications and files

Following the breach of telecommunication networks by a state-sponsored threat actor known as Salt Typhoon, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) advised individuals to start using end-to-end encryption to protect sensitive text and voice communications.

CISA’s Mobile Communications Best Practice Guidance recommends the adoption of “…a free messaging application for secure communications that guarantees end-to-end encryption.” However, as the role of messaging applications in business communication expands, it’s important not to lose sight of recordkeeping and compliance obligations. Although consumer messaging applications can protect data and offer file sharing capabilities, they often lack the administrative controls and data retention features needed to reduce organizational risk.

During the Cryptographer’s Panel at RSA Conference 2025, concerns about the recent US government group chat leak were raised. Public-key cryptography pioneer Whitfield Diffie noted that the use of an encrypted consumer messaging application to communicate classified information broke archiving laws. Because some commercial tools use 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption, which is strong enough to protect communications, he predicted an increase in the use of consumer applications to protect sensitive information in unapproved ways.

How Wickr can help

Wickr can help you protect communications and files against external threats, and employees that misuse their privileges (either intentionally or unintentionally) and expose sensitive data.

Wickr is a secure messaging and collaboration solution that protects one-to-one and group messaging, voice and video calling, file sharing, screen sharing, and location sharing with end-to-end encryption. Additionally, Wickr provides the data retention and administrative controls needed to help you meet recordkeeping requirements, and manage user and device data remotely. Specialized features help you organize files and control how they’re viewed and downloaded.

Wickr Files provides a dedicated space to access and manage files in conversations. Moderators of Wickr rooms and users in self-moderated group conversations can upload and organize files in folders. Users can toggle between Messages and Files tabs to access relevant content and streamline collaboration.

The new Wickr File Previews feature helps you protect sensitive files and lower the risk of data loss. Wickr network administrators can configure a view-only mode in the Security Groups section of the AWS Management Console for Wickr. Users within these groups will be restricted to only viewing the supported files, and will be unable to download them.

Wickr is available in commercial AWS Regions that include US East (N. Virginia), Canada (Central), Asia Pacific (Malaysia, Singapore, Sydney, and Tokyo), and Europe (Frankfurt, London, Stockholm, and Zurich). It is also available as Department of Defense Cloud Computing Security Requirements Guide Impact Level 5 (DoD CC SRG IL5) and Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) High-authorized AWS WickrGov in AWS GovCloud (US-West).

Conclusion

There is no single solution for preventing data loss. However, Wickr facilitates efforts to protect sensitive conversations and files while meeting regulatory requirements. Incorporating Wickr alongside clear policies and awareness training covering messaging apps and secure file sharing can position you to accelerate collaboration, mitigate risks, and drive positive business outcomes.

To learn more and get started, see the following resources:

About the authors

Anne Grahn

Anne Grahn

Anne is a Senior Worldwide Security GTM Specialist at AWS based in Chicago. She has more than 15 years of experience in the security industry, and focuses on effectively communicating cybersecurity risk. She maintains a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification.

Tanvi Jain

Tanvi Jain

Tanvi is a Senior Technical Product Manager at AWS, based in New York. She focuses on building security-first features for customers, and is passionate about improving collaboration by building technology that is easy to use, scalable, and interoperable.