Even while several organizations head back to the office following years of remote work due to the pandemic, there is still a significant percentage of employees<\/a> either working from home full-time or within a hybrid work model. As a result, virtual meetings aren\u2019t going away any time soon. And while there are many pros to this type of collaboration, there are also some risks to address.<\/p>\n As we know, virtual meetings<\/a> have many positive outcomes, such as allowing companies to continue operations to support their workforce and customers, schools from kindergarten through college to provide classes, and families to schedule meetups for virtual dinners and conversations.<\/strong><\/p>\n Unfortunately, the great popularity of platforms like Zoom also increased the number of hackers and trolls out to create their versions of \u201cfun, violating the privacy of the meetings\u2019 topic and discussion. The problem is so common and growing so quickly that the FBI invented a term for it<\/a>: Zoom-bombing.<\/p>\n Sometimes, you get merely annoying interruptions, but other times, hackers can cause real problems. After all, even when intrusions seem harmless, they can open more considerable security risks<\/a>. For example:<\/p>\n Although these examples all relate to Zoom, other platforms are vulnerable, too, including Teams. In fact, hackers and trolls can break into any platform that isn\u2019t properly configured, doesn\u2019t have sufficient security in place, or is operated by meeting organizers who didn\u2019t take steps to run their meetings in a secure and controlled manner.<\/p>\n Breaking into a Teams meeting and violating your organization\u2019s privacy doesn\u2019t even require much technical skill on the part of a hacker. Consider this common scenario that happens all the time:<\/strong><\/p>\n As you can see in this scenario, anyone can do it. So, how can you stop it?<\/p>\n The good news is Teams offers easy ways to mitigate the risk of such privacy problems by updating your settings.<\/p>\n In the Teams admin center, you can make the following simple changes to lock down who you allow into meetings:<\/p>\n Here is what it looks like on the Teams Admin Center interface:<\/strong><\/p>\n https:\/\/techcommunity.microsoft.com\/t5\/microsoft-teams\/can-t-get-the-devices-details-teams-admin-center-teams-devices\/m-p\/3696273<\/p><\/div>\n https:\/\/techcommunity.microsoft.com\/t5\/microsoft-teams\/teams-meeting-policy-quot-allow-everyone-quot-not-working\/m-p\/1458665<\/p><\/div>\n NOTE: The first setting, \u201cLet anonymous people start a meeting,\u201d should be \u201cOn\u201d if many people in your organization need to start meetings through dial-in (i.e., when they aren\u2019t able to start the meeting through the Teams interface).<\/p>\n These changes will allow your Teams users<\/a> to admit non-organizational guests from the lobby into the meeting manually.<\/strong> However, you must admit people into the meeting from within the Teams app itself, not through the dial-in connection to a Teams meeting.<\/p>\n https:\/\/learn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/dynamics365\/mixed-reality\/remote-assist\/one-time-call<\/p><\/div>\n As always, we strongly recommend you communicate these changes<\/a> clearly to your users so they know the \u201cwhy\u201d behind the change, which will reduce frustration and increase adoption.<\/p>\n You can complete the steps I outlined in this post in seconds and eliminate a lot of headaches. By learning the Rules of the Road for Microsoft Teams<\/a>, you can make sure you configure your Teams tenant properly and make your Teams security even tighter.<\/p>\n As your use of remote teleworking applications continues to increase, you always need to consider how you configure these applications to ensure the security and privacy of your information, discussions and meetings. That way, we can all get better and do better together.<\/p>\n \n The Privacy and Security Risks of Virtual Meetings<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
Protect the Privacy of Microsoft Teams Meetings<\/h2>\n
\n
![\"Centric](\"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Meeting-Policies.png\")
<\/a>![\"Centric](\"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Meeting-Settings.png\")
<\/a>![\"Centric](\"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Microsoft-teams-lobby.jpg\")
<\/a>Embrace Remote Meetings Without Sacrificing Confidentiality<\/h2>\n