How to lock the bad guys out of virtual meetings – permanently

Covid-19 accelerated and expanded new opportunities. Business meetings have changed, and virtual meetings are no longer an outlier but the norm in many organisations. Online meetings, however, have raised security, privacy, and confidentiality concerns. Often, intruders find ways into those meetings and do bad or even despicable things while everyone is watching.

The phenomenon of "Zoombombing" is one of the most common headaches of virtual meetings. The term refers to intruders crashing Zoom or other virtual meetings and broadcasting inappropriate content. The privacy of virtual meetings is also a concern, especially for closed-door discussions.

Hackers can easily disrupt virtual meetings by sharing troubling content or shouting unpleasant things while hiding their identities. A few practical steps can help you keep intruders from interrupting your online meetings.

All attendees should be required to register for online meetings, providing their names and email addresses. In this way, the organisers can keep a record of everyone at the meeting.

There are some video conferencing apps that allow one to screen people before admitting them to a meeting — use them. Zoom refers to this as a "waiting room", and Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business refer to it as a "lobby”. Create a virtual waiting room that you can use to screen people before they enter the virtual meeting room.

The meeting host shouldn't always use the same link to join a meeting. Create a unique link for each session and share it only with the invitees. Since you won't be using it, you won't have to worry if an old meeting link falls into the wrong hands a few days later.

To prevent wayward attendees from sharing distasteful content, the meeting host should disable the sharing feature on the app. Your video conferencing app should allow you to control who can share their screens and files during a meeting.

It's best to set the default settings to allow only the host to have complete electronic control of the meeting, including kicking out troublemakers and trespassers. Only bona fide attendees who have alerted the host ahead of time that they need to present something should be allowed to share their screen or upload files. The host should also muffle all microphones, unmuting only microphones for those permitted to speak.

Using unsafe Wi-Fi to attend crucial meetings puts you at risk of someone intercepting your communications. On shared or public networks, anyone within range could potentially snoop on what you're doing on your laptop.

It is a good idea to use a virtual private network (VPN) for high-stakes meetings; VPN ensures that no one eavesdrops on your call. To secure their remote connections, some organisations require their distant employees to use a VPN. Even if your company does not require using one, it is still a good practice.

Mr Wambugu is an informatics specialist. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @Samwambugu2