The demand for video conferencing use during these challenging times has given rise to bad actors and hackers targeting new attacks on video conferencing services and their users.
Here are our top tips for safe video conferencing security:
- Require Passwords or PIN Numbers. The #1 important thing you can do is ensure passwords or PIN numbers are mandatory for all your meetings to protect against uninvited guests. If your service allows you to create the password, use password creation best practices – use a random string of letters, numbers and symbols.
- Update and Patch: Ensure your video conferencing software is the latest version and has the most recent security patches. Communicate this to all our participants prior to the meeting.
- Review Meeting Links: If you are receiving a meeting invitation, verify your meeting link is from a known, trusted source or sender. Check the meeting link before clicking on it. Keep watch for malicious links with “.exe,” as example.
- Verify Attendees: If you are hosting a meeting review, the attendee emails before sending out the invitations. When you start the conference, check the participants as they join to ensure they are who they are. Verify names and phone numbers you don’t recognize.
- Review Meeting Security Settings: As you start your meetings, review and enable appropriate security and privacy settings to prevent bad actors from exploiting known vulnerabilities.
- Keep Kids Secure: As children are using video conferencing for school and other activities, parents please help them do so securely. Teach them how to be safe online. Talk to them about not chatting with strangers or giving out private and personal information.
Hackers and cyber-criminals are always looking for new trends as they create new types of attacks. What’s different now is a new set of technology users have embraced video conferencing technology in greater numbers – students, teachers, families, and small businesses. Some are doing this with limited IT knowledge and security support. It is important for us all to educate ourselves and our users to safely and securely use these new technology resources.
