Data Sources for eDiscovery Professionals
Slack
Company Snapshot
Slack Technologies, LLC is Salesforce’s channel‑based collaboration platform for modern work. As of 2025 it supports ≈42 million daily active users across more than 100 000 paying organizations and contributes an estimated $1.7 billion in annualized revenue.
Origin
Slack began life inside the game studio Tiny Speck. After its MMORPG Glitch failed in 2012, co‑founder Stewart Butterfield pivoted the team’s internal IRC‑style messaging tool into a standalone product, launching Slack publicly in August 2013.
The Slack Platform
Slack’s multi‑tenant AWS architecture organizes communication into workspaces and channels:
- Channel‑based messaging with threads, reactions, huddles, clips, and canvases.
- APIs: Web API, RTM, Discovery API, Audit Logs API, SCIM, and Events for automation, compliance, and eDiscovery.
- Enterprise Grid unifies multiple workspaces, enables organization‑wide retention, legal holds, and federated search.
Extracting Slack Data for Investigation
| Method | Plan Required | Typical Volume | Pro Tips |
| Standard Export (Admin ▶ Workspace settings ▶ Import/Export) | Free & Pro | Public‑channel history (JSON/ZIP) | Limited scope—no DMs or private channels. |
| Corporate Export | Business Plus | Public, private & DM content after Org‑Owner request and Slack approval | One‑off collections; preserve export timestamp and hash files. |
| Discovery API | Enterprise Grid | Continuous JSON feed of all messages & files | Best for ongoing legal holds; integrate with DLP/eDiscovery tools. |
| Audit Logs API | Enterprise Grid | CSV/JSON of admin, auth & anomaly events | Correlate actor, entity, and session_id to prove chain‑of‑custody. |
| Channel Audit Report | Business Plus & Grid | CSV of channel membership & activity | Scope custodians before full export. |
| Third‑party Archives (Onna, Hanzo, etc.) | Varies | Normalized repositories with search & legal‑hold workflows | Verify connectors rely on Discovery API for full fidelity. |
Preservation Tip: Default retention on lower‑tier plans may purge messages after 90 days. For defensibility, set retention to Keep Everything, apply an organization‑wide legal hold, and capture Audit Logs prior to collection.
Common eDiscovery & Investigation Use Cases
- Harassment & discrimination claims – Review channel and DM conversations, reactions, and emoji usage.
- Insider trading & IP leakage – Combine Audit Logs with Discovery API to trace suspicious file shares.
- Incident response & breach reviews – Export incident channels, workflow‑run logs, and huddle transcripts.
- Regulatory audits (FINRA, SEC, GDPR/CCPA) – Demonstrate retention settings and produce custodian communications.
- M&A diligence – Assess cultural risks and identify whistle‑blower chatter across connected workspaces.
Related Technologies in the Slack Portfolio
- Slack Connect – Cross‑org shared channels
- Workflow Builder (Missions) – No‑code automations
- Slack Huddles & Clips – Audio/video & async screen recording
- Slack Canvas – Collaborative documents
- Rimeto – Rich employee directory
- Slack Lists – Lightweight task tracking
- Donut (App) – Social introductions bot