How To Keep Hackers Out Of Your Online Meetings

We have all fallen victim to an online phishing attack at some point. As most of us have moved online for work, social interactions and comfort, hacking has been on the rise. With some people working remotely for the first time, it is easy to fall victim to unknown hackers attacks. 

 

Experts are suspecting that with more people working at home, we’ll see a large increase in impersonations and scams. Hackers are trying to hack in any way they can. Options are with voice messages, texts, emails, phone calls and social media posts, but the newest, most popular way is trying to hack into your online meetings.

 

Zoombombing. 

 

Before last month, most of us probably never heard that term. However, with the up-tick in zoom usage, hackers trying to get into calls and pull information is at an all time high. Your entire family might be using Zoom for work and school. The young kids might be on with teachers and classmates, while you are on conference calls. 

 

Forbes.com has compiled 4 tips to keep hackers out of your calls.

 

1. Keep Video Call Invites Private

We are trying to make sure that business is going on as it needs, so we are sending out information all the time. With that being said, you do not want to share personal Zoom links on social media or screenshot it and share with friends and others. If a link is being shared and re-shared, it can be difficult to keep track exactly where it went, or if it even reached the right recipients. It is recommended to put the Zoom link in an email to your intended recipients, or set up a Google calendar with the Zoom link in the description, so you can see who has denied and confirmed participation. 

 

2. Don’t Use Your Personal Meeting ID

If you use your personal meeting ID (PMI) for all of your Zoom calls and that gets shared around, hackers are able to pop in whenever they choose. Not even just a hacker, any one who has the link has the ability to disrupt your meeting. If you do use your PMI, the only way to make sure that hackers stay out is to create a password for each meeting. That can become tiresome, so we suggest that you generate a unique ID for each meeting.

 

3. Require A Password

Passwords work well as extra protection. Zoom is able to generate a password for every meeting that you have and it will automatically share that with all participants in the invite. Instead of only having certain meetings with a password, you can also make every meeting have a password requirement under Advanced Settings in Zoom. 

 

4. Turn Off Screen Sharing

In Zoom’s Advanced Settings you can turn off screen sharing for meetings. If screen sharing for all participants is enabled, anyone is able to share their entire screen to all viewers. This happens instantaneously. It can’t be stopped before it happens, unless screen sharing is disabled. If a hacker does get into a call, at least they won’t be able to share their screen to everyone. It might not be a lot of help, but it is one less worry.

 

Be Safe!

There are other tips and tricks to keep in mind to keep you and all your Zoom participants safe. Do a quick Zoom search to make sure that you are secure and good to go! At this time more than ever, online safety is important for the whole business and the whole family.