Private Channel Management is Changing!
How it works today:
• In Microsoft Teams, team members can create private channels, with the creator automatically becoming the owner. Channel owners have the authority to manage the channel by adding or removing other owners and members, configuring settings, and deleting the channel if necessary.
• Private channels remain hidden from Sponsor Administrators or Team Managers unless they are members. However, proactive Sponsor Administrators or Team Managers can use the Exostar app to identify private channels and add themselves as owners when needed.
What’s changing:
• The capability to create and manage channels directly within Microsoft Teams has been disabled.
• Sponsor Administrators and Team Managers will now use the Exostar app to create and manage private channels.
• The Exostar app will be designated as the owner of all existing private channels, while current channel owners will be reassigned to the member role.
Why is this changing?
Over the past year, Exostar has been assisting customers with their CMMC compliance. Audit authorities have advised that additional technical controls are necessary for storing CUI. Private Channels were identified as an area needing improvement due to their open creation process in our solution. Consequently, we are now restricting their creation and management to higher privileged roles.
In upcoming releases, we plan to implement further controls, such as disabling downloads by default for all Teams and Channels.
Team Managers and Sponsor Admins can view and manage private channels via the Private Channels tab under Manage Teams. By default, active channels display and selecting a channel displays team members who have access to the channel.
Add Private Channel
- Sponsor Admins and Team Managers are responsible for adding private channels
- When a private channel is created, the Exostar app becomes the owner of the channel
- The creator is added to the channel as a member
- Microsoft requires channel names to be unique, including archived channels and channels deleted less than 30 days prior
- It may take several minutes for the channel creation and user provisioning to complete
- Microsoft limits the number of private channels to 30. This includes archived and recently deleted channels (within 30 days)
Manage Channel Members
- Sponsor Admins and Team Managers can add or remove users from a private channel
- Only team members can be added to the channel
- Channel members are given the member role
- It may take several minutes for the new channel member to gain access
Edit Private Channel
The Edit action allows Sponsor Admins and Team Managers to:
-
- Change channel name
- Archive channel: Removes user access, but preserves content for data retention or possible future restoration
- Delete channel: Removes user access and sends channel to recycle bin. Channel cannot be restored via UI
Archived Channels
- Selecting Archived Channels displays all private channels on the team that are in the archived state (User access has been removed, content has been retained)
- Archived channels consume storage
- Members cannot be added to archived channels. The channel must be restored to grant user access
- When a channel is restored it become active. User access is not automatically granted when the channel is restored to the active state. Members must be added.
- Archived channels can be deleted when no longer needed
Deleted Channels
- Selecting Deleted Channels shows all private channels that have been deleted from the team
- Deleted channels cannot be restored
- Channel names cannot be re-used within 30 days of deletion
