Content access via Slack integration

[Esther Strom]

I'm our site admin. I just got this email notification from Confluence:

"Hi there,

User X just connected the Slack workspace ourspace.slack.com to your Confluence Cloud site oursite.atlassian.net/wiki.

This allows Confluence Cloud to:

• Send notifications about site activity to Slack channels in ourspace.slack.com
• Display information about pages, posts, and comments in those channels
• Interact with the content on your site on behalf of Confluence Cloud users in those channels

Other people in those Slack channels will be able to see notifications and information about pages, posts and comments, even if they aren't members of this site.

We'll never send notifications or display information in Slack about restricted content.

To turn off the Confluence Cloud for Slack app and disconnect all workspaces, click here."

I don't want to completely prevent our users from doing this, but I'm concerned about access. We use SSO for access to all Atlassian products, and the message above clearly states that content will be shared via Slack even with people who are not members of our site. 

I don't want to force restrictions on all of our content, aside from what we already have - i.e. no anonymous access; viewing is allowed via the confluence-users group. Is that enough? Or will content be shared directly in Slack which, in Confluence, it's restricted to logged-in users? I do not have access to Slack myself to test this.

[Mykhailo Vlasov · Accepted solution]

Hello Esther! 

First of all, Confluence for Slack app won't share any content without a configuration done by Confluence authenticated user. There are 2 ways Confluence content can be shared in Slack:

1. Notifications caused by user actions in Confluence (page or comment creation / update). In order to make these notifications appear in Slack, Confluence authenticated user has to create a Subscription for a page or a space and some Slack channel. At this point subscription creator takes responsibility for security of content in subscribed space/page. Only Space Admin is allowed to create space subscription, but any user can create a page subscription. There is an exception though and it was mentioned in the letter you got: restricted pages will not send notifications to Slack event in they or their space in subscribed.
2. Page preview attached to a Confluence link posted into a Slack channel (includes title, number of like and comments). This works only when a Confluence authenticated user posts a link to unrestricted page. Restricted pages will not get their preview attached.

You can see samples of the messages produced by Confluence Slack app on the Marketplace. Configuration instructions are available on app documentation page.

So, if your pages are only restricted to viewing by logged in users, they will be considered public and some their content (titles, comments, activity) will be exposed to Slack if a Confluence authenticated user intentionally configured that for a particular Slack channel.