As the professional world continues to transition online, we’re all facing new challenges. During the first half of 2020, companies began changing the way that they communicate at scale. Video conferencing solution, Zoom, saw its daily active user count jump to more than 200 million.
However, as we have more conversations and collaborative moments online, it’s important to rethink the way we handle critical cybersecurity issues too. As business leaders discovered through issues like Zoombombing, changing your strategy too quickly often leads to gaps in security.
So, how do we take advantage of the benefits that video conferencing has to offer for collaboration, without risking security?
1. Control Conference Invitations
First, you should only have the people you really need present in a video conference. Zoombombing revealed that people are happy to gate-crash an online meeting if you’re not careful. This means that business leaders need to set controls for protecting themselves from eavesdropping.
Zoom addressed this issue with the delivery of things like waiting rooms and passwords for meetings. It’s worth ensuring that any video conferencing solution you use has plenty of ways to clock down the conversation. Don’t forget to consider the permissions that each attendee has too.
With certain video tools, you will be able to determine which employees can share screens and files, as well as which can take control of a conversation.
2. Take Advantage of Admin Tools
Control is essential to the current collaboration environment. No matter which video conferencing or collaboration tool you use, it’s important to explore the tools available to keep your meetings secure. For instance, you might need to set up two-factor authentication for anyone who wants to log into your meeting software.
There’s also the option to implement protocols that allow business leaders to forcibly remove unnecessary participants from a conversation. The best video conferencing tools today will give companies more support in controlling everything from customized meeting security, to recording functions.
3. Implement the Right Policies
Just having the right technology for secure conversations in place isn’t enough. Companies also need to ensure that their employees know how to avoid security issues with their behaviour too. For instance, your team members should never be logging into meeting experiences from a public WiFi connection. Additionally, it’s important that team members know what they can talk about in public.
Joining a sensitive meeting in a café or public environment causes significant security issues, even if your team member has an encrypted connection.
Introduce your employees to the right guidelines for everything from securing meetings in public, to using VPN tools and two-factor authentication.
4. Choose Tools with Encryption
It’s essential for today’s businesses to use the right tools for video collaboration. Consumer options like Facebook messenger and WhatsApp might be easy to adopt, but they don’t always have the right security measures in place.
Companies should select video conferencing systems that offer end-to-end encryption. This is the only true way to ensure absolute protection for your video calls – even if someone manages to hack into the conversation.
Before you decide which video solution to use for collaboration, make sure that you check out the security and privacy solutions it has to offer.
5. Constantly Monitor and Improve
Currently, the world is facing a massive change in the way that we work and communicate. Many companies are getting used to new policies for the first time. The only way to ensure that your strategies are working, is to carefully monitor and track outcomes.
Keep a close eye on what’s happening in your business, and how secure everyone is when they log into a conference experience. Examine any dangerous or anomalous behaviour and determine what you can do to reduce those issues in the future.
You may discover that simple steps, like using meeting rooms before a discussion, or turning off video and muting audio when first starting a meeting, make the biggest difference.
Don’t Underestimate Video Security
Today’s businesses are spending less time in the office, and more time in the digital environment. This means staying connected to colleagues and coworkers requires a more immersive method of communication. Collaboration tools combined with video conferencing services make it easier for staff to stay connected.
However, to truly take advantage of this new landscape, companies need to ensure that they’re not cutting any corners on security and privacy. To survive in the era of virtual and remote work, all businesses must put security first.
