Was everyone on your video or conferencing call invited? A rash of US news reports has revealed eavesdropping in school’s online classrooms as well as businesses’ virtual meetings, according to connectivity platform provider TeamViewer.
However, using a meetings platform with the right security features and applying five simple tips can keep uninvited eavesdroppers out of virtual conversations, the software publisher notes in a blog post.
“Each meeting should be assigned a risk level that matches certain security protocols,” TeamViewer explains. “A good rule of thumb is to ask: ‘Would you have this meeting in a coffee shop?’ If not, tighten your security as much as possible.”
Use unique meeting IDs and passwords — a primary defence against war dialling, when a would-be hacker uses a randomiser to guess numbers in a sequence and gain access. Only give personal meeting IDs to colleagues you trust, and always lock those meetings to block eavesdroppers.
Also ask everyone who joins the meeting to identify himself or herself.
“If you have attendees that aren’t on the guest list, you can remove them before talking about sensitive matters,” TeamViewer notes.
Limit sharing and restrict invited guests from inviting other people without permission. Don’t share the meeting ID or invitation link on social media, private intranet, or other company sites or platforms.
Two-factor authentication (2FA), often a feature of a modern online collaboration platform, can be enabled and only takes a few extra seconds per user.
“Some ways you can reduce the chances of your videoconferences being hacked are technical, while others just require common sense,” notes TeamViewer.
TeamViewer Meeting protects video calls and meetings with security features including meeting lock, unique meeting IDs and passwords, optional 2FA, and 256-bit end-to-end session encryption — preventing the reading data in transit between devices as long as the guests are using the link, rather than dialling in.
The publisher also offers enterprise-grade remote connectivity via cloud-based TeamViewer Tensor, which has rolled out updates to enhance customers’ ability to support end users and resolve issues remotely.
This includes multi-tenancy features, the ability to offer secure help on the web with co-browsing and comprehensive chat functionality, as well as for support staff to remotely guide users of customer mobile apps.
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