Keeping unwanted parties out of business meetings can range from important to imperative depending on the topics and focus of the video call. There has been a sudden increase in employees working from home and requiring the use of Zoom or other services. While many media reports have discussed the threat of “Zoombombing,” there are several measures video chat users can take to greatly reduce these occurrences and their impacts.
Fraudsters and internet trolls have been able to infiltrate video meetings simply by performing web searches for URLs that contain “Zoom.us” and looking for unprotected links. Other times organizations or their employees post meeting URLs on public web pages or on social media. In more nefarious cases, fraudsters can obtain meeting ID’s via business email compromise.
Here are steps anyone can take to reduce the likelihood of falling victim to e-meeting eavesdropping in Zoom:
Don’t use the default, Personal Meeting ID to schedule a meeting. Creating a unique meeting ID, and therefore URL, per meeting or video conference call reduces the likelihood someone can obtain access to your meeting. If a user’s Personal Zoom Meeting ID is compromised, every time they continue to use the Meeting ID they are at risk.
Don’t share Meeting IDs publicly and require a vetting process. If setting up an open webinar, rather than publish the Meeting ID on social media or a business’ website, setup a sign up or registration form and only provide the Meeting ID to attendees you pre-approve.
Turn on the Waiting Room feature and do not allow attendees to join before the host. The Waiting Room provides a layer of protection, such that is someone gains access to a private meeting you can keep them at bay or remove them before they can watch or listen to the meetings discussion or content.
Change settings so that only hosts can share their screen. You don’t want your business meeting to turn into “ChatRoulette.”
For small to mid-size meetings, once you have confirmed all expected parties and no unknown parties have joined, lock the meeting preventing others from joining.
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