Stay safe when using online meetings

During the current pandemic, an increasing number of organisations and individuals are turning to communications platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams for online meetings.

Unfortunately, this provides increased opportunities for malicious cyber actors to hijack online meetings that are not secured with passwords or that use unpatched software.

Here’s how you can stay safe using these platforms:

• Don’t make meetings public. Instead, use a meeting password or use the waiting room feature to control the entry of guests
• Don’t share links to meetings on social media. Provide the link directly to those invited
• Manage screensharing options. Change screensharing to “host only”
• Keep all software up to date
• Review all your privacy settings in all applications to better secure yourself
• Only download applications from official stores
• Set strong complex passwords (by using three random words) on all accounts, or consider using a password manager
• Enable 2FA / MFA (2 factor authentication / multi-factor authentication) on all accounts where possible
• Consider what can be seen in the background of your video-call (consider adding telework requirements into your documented policies for information security)
• Anyone from public organisations or with operationally sensitive material should do their own research first on the platform of choice

Find out more about keeping yourself online here.