The massive adoption of video conferencing by almost all global organizations in the last few years creates several potential issues in terms of data security. This is the reason why it is important to work out an effective corporate policy for safe video conferences which every member of your organization has to conform with. Let’s have a look at five fundamental best practices that must be always respected in order to prevent data leaks
The more a technology spreads, the higher the possibilities of incidents connected with this technology. Video conferencing does not make exception. According to a recent survey of Brother International, 60% of organizations exchange critical data during their virtual conferences, of which 50% are financial data and 25% trade secrets. This is bad enough to take the topic of data safety very seriously.
So, what do you need to do in order to ensure a good level of data protection during your conferences? There are five best practices that every organization should adopt:
1 – Use encrypted protocols and software
Encryption protects your data during the transit through the web. Today, almost all providers of video-conferencing solutions utilize encrypted protocols and software; however, you’d better check this important detail before utilizing video conferencing software, and not after.
2- Opt for on-premise server based solutions
Encryption alone is not enough to assure you a good data protection, as data could be stolen at either end of the conference. Another common issue is that video-conferencing protocols must be allowed through firewalls, which creates potential vulnerabilities. On-premise server based solutions help to solve this second issue, as they are deployed beyond your firewall or the router, so that it is not necessary to open new ports. R-HUB`s TurboMeeting (http://www.rhubcom.com), for example, offers the possibility to reject anybody who tries to access your conference from outside your firewall, besides a strong SSL and proprietary encryption.
3- Create strong passwords
Technology is not enough to be safe, as in many cases data leaks are the consequence of human mistakes. A classical mistake of many workers is to utilize weak passwords, like Johnny1967, as they are easier to remember. A good idea is thus to centralize the process of creation of password, so that there is only one person responsible that handles them out and take cares to work out stronger and stronger passwords that are to be changed periodically.
4 – Create a devoted room for video-conferencing
Passwords are often stolen simply by overlooking someone while inserting his password at the beginning of a video conference. A good practice is then to utilize a devoted room for video conferencing to which nobody has access and where participants are placed in a way they cannot overhead or overlook each other. In that way, also your equipment is more secure.
5- Switch off any non-necessary device or tool
It is important to disable any device or tool that is not necessary for your conference, like remote camera control, codec auto-updating / downloading, file sharing, as they are often exploited by hacker to break your systems. For similar reasons, it is also important to log off every time when a session or a conference has ended.