As millions of people around the world practice social distancing and work their office jobs from home, video conferencing has quickly become the new norm. Whether youβreΒ attending regular work meetings, partaking in a virtual happy hour with friends, or catching up with extended familyΒ across the globe, video conferencing is a convenientΒ alternativeΒ toΒ many of the activities we can no longer doΒ in real life. But asΒ the rapid adoption of video conferencing tools and apps occurs, is security falling by the wayside?
OneΒ security vulnerability that has recently made headlines is the ability for uninvitedΒ attendeesΒ to bombardΒ usersβ virtual meetings.Β How? According toΒ Forbes, many users have posted their meeting invite links on social media sites like Twitter.Β An attacker can simply click on one of these links and interrupt an important conference callΒ orΒ meeting with inappropriate content.Β Β
Online conferencing tools allow users to hold virtual meetings and share files via chat. But according toΒ Security Boulevard, communicating confidential business information quickly and privately can be challenging with these tools.Β For example, users are not always immediately available, evenΒ when working from home. In fact, many parents areΒ simultaneouslyΒ doubling asΒ working parents and teachers with the recent closure of schools and childcare providers.Β If a user needs to share private information with aΒ coworkerΒ but they are unable to connect by video or phone,Β they might revert to using a messaging platform that lacks end-to-end encryption,Β a feature thatΒ prevents third-party recipients from seeing private messages. This could lead to leaks or unintended sharingΒ of confidential data, whether personal or corporate.Β Whatβs more, the lack of using a secure messaging platform could present a hacker with an opportunity to breach a victimβs data or device.Β Depending on the severity of this type of breach, a victim could be at risk ofΒ identityΒ theft.Β Β
With theΒ recent surge of new video conferencing users, privacy policies have been placed under a microscope. According toΒ WIRED, some online conferencing tools have had to update their policies to reflect theΒ collection of user information and meeting contentΒ used for advertising or other marketing efforts. Another privacy concern was brought to lightΒ by a video conferencing toolβs attention-tracking feature. This alertsΒ the virtual meeting hostΒ when an attendee hasnβt had the meeting window in their device foreground for 30 seconds, resulting in users feeling that their privacy has been compromised.Β Β
As users become accustomed to working from home, video conferencing tools will continue to becomeΒ aΒ necessaryΒ avenue for virtual communication.Β But how can users do so whileΒ putting their online security first? Follow these tips toΒ helpΒ ensure that yourΒ virtualΒ meetingsΒ are safeguarded:Β Β
There are plenty of video conferencing tools available online. Before downloading the first one you see, do your research and check for possible security vulnerabilities around the tools.Β Does the video conferencing tool youβre considering use end-to-end encryption?Β This ensures that only meeting participantsΒ have the ability toΒ decryptΒ secure meeting content.Β Additionally, be sure to read the privacy policies listed by the video conferencing programs to find the one that isΒ the most secure and fits your needs.Β Β
To ensure that only invited attendeesΒ can accessΒ your meeting,Β make sure they are password protected. For maximum safety, activate passwords for new meetings, instant meetings, personal meetings, and people joining by phone.Β
To keep users (either welcome or unwelcome) from taking control of your screen while youβre video conferencing, select the option to block everyone except the host (you) from screen sharing.Β Β
By turning on automatic updates, you are guaranteed to have all the latest security patchesΒ and enhancementsΒ for your video conferencing tool as soon as they become available.Β Β
The post How Secure Is Video Conferencing? appeared first on McAfee Blog.
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