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Cyber Threats Impacting Video Conferencing

By January 1, 1970September 20th, 2024No Comments

According to Zerify 97% of IT professionals said they are concerned about protecting privacy and video conferencing data.

Video conferencing still has not been given the individualized focus it deserves despite a notable increase in virtual meetings among remote and hybrid workers across critical industries. 

George Waller, EVP of Zerify, who believes that zero trust in video conferencing involves important steps to elevate security, such as locking down microphones and speakers, and authorizing and authenticating every single user prior to entering a specific conference.

“Video conferencing threats are increasing and decision-makers are concerned about nation-state threats as these platforms can be compromised by attackers trying to steal IP information and other valuable data. The increase in foreign attacks exacerbates security concerns for IT professionals, illustrating why it’s so important to authenticate and authorize every single video conference participant prior to their admittance into a meeting. Individualized authentication is essential to ensuring Zero Trust for the most secure types of video conferences.” says Waller.

Video conferencing cyber threats according to helpnetsecurity.com

  • 97% of respondents said they were concerned about protecting privacy and video conferencing data
  • 92% reported that they are aware of security vulnerabilities in video conferencing platforms
  • Nation-state cyber threats have increased at most (81.8%) companies
  • 89% of IT professionals are concerned about foreign attacks as they see a rise in threats
  • 79% of respondents reported that they were very knowledgeable about the concept and framework of zero trust cybersecurity, with 86% stating that their company had zero trust cybersecurity policies. Zero trust is a “strategic approach to cybersecurity that secures an organization by eliminating implicit trust and continuously validating every stage of a digital interaction.”
  • 69% believe cyber attackers could breach their video conferencing platforms and 84% stated that if they were breached, they believed attackers could steal intellectual property, sensitive company data and trade secrets.

So how can you prevent your company becoming a target to a cyber attack?  Check out some tips below.

Tips on increasing video conferencing cybersecurity

  • Require a Password to Join

    Requesting a password for a meeting from attendees will prevent uninvited visitors from joining. It’s good practice to include a multi-factor authentication feature to ensure additional security and verify that only authorized members participate in a meeting.

  • Conduct regular software updates

    Security patches guarantee that the software you’re using has the most recent updates. Make sure you’re downloading an official release of the software to prevent installing dangerous malware instead.

  • Do not neglect the privacy policy

    Carefully read the tool’s privacy policy to know how it treats user data. Be sure to check how long the data is stored, if it’s stored at all. It would be best to choose vendors who don’t store meeting recordings on their servers. Also, appoint a person in charge of storing and keeping meeting data at your company.

  • Control Attendees

    Keep track of who joins the meeting. You need to be able to identify all guests. It’s useful when a video conferencing software has a notification system when a new person joins a meeting.

  • Establish waiting rooms

    Instead of letting participants join a meeting directly, make the host of the conference control access. When the waiting room feature is implemented, the host receives a notification that someone wants to join the meeting. The responsible person can then determine whether it is acceptable for the guest to participate.

  • Encrypt Meeting Recordings

    End-to-end encryption is critical when discussing sensitive corporate information. Password-protected encryption will make your data inaccessible when received by third parties. On the other hand, when data transmission is not encrypted, a hacker can obtain and read data easily.

  • Build a corporate video conferencing culture

    Regardless of the choice of video conferencing providers and security measures built into them, if your employees don’t have established best-practice behaviors, tools alone won’t keep cyber threats for video conferencing software off the shore.

  • Be on the lookout for unknown phone numbers

    If any attendee dials from the unknown number, ask to confirm the identity. If the intruder refuses to do so, remove them from the call. Check whether your conferencing application requires passwords when dialing in. Avoid publicly sharing full meeting links. When receiving a meeting invitation, verify that it’s from a known, trusted sender. Once everyone has joined, lock the meeting to keep out unknown attendees.

  • Establish notifications when meetings are forwarded

    Set alerts so you know when meeting invites are forwarded over email to others. Check any secondary invitees are legitimate. If necessary, schedule another meeting with new details.

  • Limit file sharing in the chat

    Restrict file sharing in the message column of a video conference so that any unknown attendees cannot receive and open private documents or send malware disguised as an attachment to others of the call.

  • Choose a business or enterprise plan

    Your employees need efficient communication tools. Consider paying for an enterprise license that gives greater control over employee use and ensures access to additional features that meet your privacy needs.

Does your company need help to secure your video conferencing? Schedule your Complimentary Business Systems Assessment with one of our experienced technicians today!

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2022/09/08/video-conferencing-cyber-threats/