ZOOM Security Issues and Best Practices

Introduction

Going virtual has made a dramatic impact on our lives this past month during the COVID-19 response.  Business meetings, coffees, lunches, happy hours and weekend family reunions over ZOOM (or your preferred conferencing platform) have enabled us to continue regular communication despite quarantine recommendations.  For some groups of people, this has been the only way to communicate as they may be quarantined in a healthcare facility, at home or in another country away from loved ones. Unfortunately, ZOOM’s ease of set up and accessibility has created a breeding ground for malicious actors to exploit.

Defending Against ZOOM Security Issues

At CDG, our mission is to offer maximum defense using our exceptional knowledge and experience to defend against advanced threats so that our clients can conduct their business with certainty. Here are a few tips you can use to ensure your next meeting is secure and ZOOM bomb free:

1. Do not share your meeting information publicly.  Only share with the intended participants. This may seem like a no brainer,  but in some cases, this is being overlooked.
2. Require a password for users joining by phone.  You can disable “Embed password in meeting link for one-click join”.
3. Designate a moderator and enable the waiting room feature.  This gives you the capability to review attendees before actually starting the meeting.
4. Be aware that Phishing campaigns are rising at incredible rates around COVID-19.  A best practice is to copy the meeting ID into Zoom vs. clicking on any email links.
5. In a corporate environment with SSO?  Connect Zoom via single sign on to decrease the risk of Zoom security issues.
6. Enable Advanced Admin Settings such as Change length of host key to 10 numbers to increase complexity and hide billing information from admins.
7. Corporate Policy and SWG – If you do not have a preferred web conferencing platform identified in your security policies, now is the time to identify, document acceptable use and adjust your SWG to allow/deny sanctioned/unsanctioned applications.

Feel free to contact CDG’s Incident Response Team in case you think you have been a victim of a cybersecurity threat.