The concept of video conferencing dates back to the 19th century when inventors explored ways to transmit video signals over long distances. We’ve come a long way since then!
The proliferation of smartphones sparked the development of video conferencing by making it possible to conduct a video call from virtually anywhere with an internet connection. Recently, the pandemic significantly accelerated the adoption and reliance of video conferencing solutions which led to a surge in usage and is now a common tool for organizations to communicate and connect across vast distances.
However, with the growth of video conferencing technology comes some risks. This blog aims to help you understand the security risks and the best practices on how to mitigate them.
Understanding the Security Risks to Your Video Conferencing Software
First, it is important to understand the risks that come with using video conferencing software which can come in many guises.
- Unauthorized access
- Weak security (authentication / passwords)
- Software vulnerability
- Malware & phishing
- Privacy
- Data breach
- Social engineering attacks
- Third-party risks
These risks can have detrimental effects on individuals and organizations with consequences as:
- Unauthorized access to sensitive information – A serious consequence of a security breach is the unauthorized access to information which could include confidential business information, personally identifiable details (PII), financial information, and intellectual property. This can lead to identity theft, fraud and compromised sensitive data.
- Privacy violations – If personal information or conversations are breached without consent it can lead to reputational damage and legal implications.
- Disruption – A security breach with unauthorized users accessing content and information to cause disruption or technical problems can greatly impact productivity.
- Damage to reputation – Whether it’s an organization or an individual, the trust is broken if sensitive data is compromised in a security breach. Stakeholders, customers or employees lose confidence in the organizations’ ability to protect secure information and damage reputations.
What Does Encryption Mean for Video Conferencing
Encryption with video conferencing is important as it makes the audio, video and data used during a video conference unintelligible to unauthorized individuals. When using video conferencing the data is encrypted and can only be decrypted by authorized recipients.
This ensures that data can remain confidential to maintain the integrity of data exchanged and enables privacy protection. Securely transmitting data with encryption prevents potential attackers from accessing and using it.
End-to-end encryption is a stronger form of encryption and this is where it’s encrypted on the sender’s device, remains encrypted during transmission and then is decrypted only on the recipient’s device. This ensures that even the service provider or any intermediaries cannot access the content.
Not all video conferencing solutions provide end-to-end encryption and some only encrypt data during transmission. If you are choosing a video conferencing solution this should be top of mind as a fundamental security feature.
Potential Data Privacy Risks for Video Conferencing
Individuals and organizations need to be aware of the data privacy risks when using video conferencing. These include:
- Unauthorized access to meetings – weak security or authentication can lead to unwanted visitors during meetings which is not only disruptive but also breaches sensitive information.
- Data interception – without high-level encryption, there is the possibility of confidential data and PII being intercepted.
- Recording and storage – a nice feature of video conferencing is to offer recording but be aware if recordings are not securely stored there is a risk of an unauthorized person accessing the content leading to privacy violations.
- Metadata – inadequate protection of this can lead to the video conferencing platform collecting data including participant names, IP addresses which in the wrong hands can lead to malicious behavior.
- Third-party sharing – there are risks that data shared with third parties could be compromised without proper consent or knowledge.
- Data retention – video conferencing platforms may retain participant data and recordings for a determined time. It is important to understand these timeframes and ensure data is purged once no longer needed.
- International data transfer – there may be different policies and ways of processing data in different jurisdictions and international data transfer may carry different and additional risks if safeguards are not put in place.
The best way to mitigate some of these risks is to use a platform that offers strong security measures, data encryption and data protection.
How to Secure Your Video Conferencing Platform
Below you will find some tips and guidance on how you can secure your video conferencing platform:
- To start, select a reputable service provider or solution and ensure that it prioritizes security with a good track record of addressing issues and vulnerabilities.
- Look for a solution that provides end-to-end encryption to ensure any communication between your attendees cannot be intercepted by unauthorized users.
- Use strong passwords and unique meeting IDs. Avoid using any default passwords or setup credentials and make sure any details are shared securely with invited participants.
- Enable waiting rooms. This helps the host see who is waiting to join a session and they can verify the participants’ identity before giving them access.
- Ensure the software used is the most current version and any security updates have been made. Also, encourage invited participants to download the latest version before joining a meeting.
- Use the lock feature if available to secure your meeting. Once everyone has joined, lock the meeting to ensure no unauthorized participants join.
- Control any sharing permissions during a meeting. Restrict privileges to those participants who need them otherwise, it can be disruptive and a security risk.
- Be conscious when recording sessions that participants are aware a meeting is being recorded, and have given their consent. Make sure to store any recordings securely and limit access.
- Use virtual background with caution. Although pretty and engaging avoid using personal or sensitive images to prevent confidential information from unknowingly being shared.
- Use a secure network. This sounds obvious but when using a video conferencing solution you connect to a trusted network. Where possible also use a private wifi network to join as public wifi can be less secure.
- Disable any unnecessary features or integrations that might pose a security risk.
- Protect against any unauthorized access by using two-factor authentication where possible to add an extra layer of security.
These measures and staying updated on the latest security recommendations can help protect and secure your video conferencing sessions. It is also important to regularly review the privacy and security policies of your chosen solution to ensure they align with your requirements.
X2O Media Security Features
X2O Media understands the importance of security and confidentiality to process our customers’ data. To show our ongoing commitment to safeguarding data we have completed the Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 Type II audit examination of X2O Platform. The X2O Platform is the platform that is the foundation for our digital signage solutions and our immersive learning and training environment, X2O OneRoom.
The SOC 2 accreditation gives our customers the assurance that all critical system requirements are in place and data is secure the the implementation of standardized controls including security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality and privacy.
For more information about X2O Platform and the security measures please contact us.
