Enhancing Home Office Security with BlueJeans Video Conferencing Guidelines

The Verizon company BlueJeans, a video conference and event platform for companies, relies on new functions with the aim of improving the security of meetings, collaboration, and time management in the home office environment.

BlueJeans Network, a company that provides the best video conferencing app services in more than 180 countries, released eight guidelines for secure video conferencing during the Corona crisis. Companies around the world have had to switch to home offices as well as virtual events and services at breakneck speed.

The BlueJeans video conferencing app security guidelines are intended to support companies and employees in the secure implementation of video conferences.

Current usage data published by BlueJeans shows how quickly companies around the world have switched to working from home since the outbreak of the Corona crisis.

Video conferencing usage increased by 100 to 300 percent worldwide. In Western Europe, daily blue jeans use in France rose by 194 percent, in Italy by 278 percent, in Great Britain by 289 percent, in Germany by 350 percent, and in Spain by as much as 509 percent.

BlueJeans Video Conferencing App Updated Security Guidelines

Given the rush of moving meetings and events to the virtual world, the BlueJeans video conferencing app recommends eight guidelines to avoid security and privacy breaches during video conferencing:

– Be careful with sharing meeting IDs –

Even if you plan to have a large number of people attending meetings or live events, posting the meeting ID on social media, websites, or public forums can attract unwanted attendees. Particular care should be taken when children take part in an event. As a minimal precaution, we recommend using unique meeting IDs.

– Use passwords whenever possible –

Using passwords for both moderators and participants improves security. The moderator password requires the chairperson (or a designated delegate) to enter a code to unlock the meeting. Attendee passwords ensure that only people with the correct code join the meeting.

Some video conferencing services offer advanced fraud detection to help identify repeated login failures. This enables intruders who try out meeting IDs to be detected.

– Know the provider’s privacy policy –

Many providers share some data with third parties, but the devil is in the details. Some share personal data with third parties, while others only provide aggregated data about call information such as duration, location, and the number of participants to third parties.

When a system shares personal data with third parties, the laws of most countries require companies to communicate this to meeting participants. When in doubt, legal advisors should take a look at the provider’s privacy policy.

– Keep an eye on meeting participants –

Many solutions allow moderators to keep track of who is attending the meeting. For example, acoustic alerts can be set to announce that the participants are joining. Some solutions display entry and exit banners with the names of the attendees joining.

The moderator should check who is participating in the video conference. If unknown or anonymous people appear, they should be asked to confirm their identity.

– Master control functions –

Many solutions allow participants to be excluded if they take part in video conferences illegally. In addition, moderators should lock meetings as soon as all participants are present to prevent overheating of confidential information. Oftentimes, moderators use their personal meeting ID for back-to-back meetings.

If a meeting then lasts longer than planned, the participants in the next meeting can already dial in and listen in. For this reason, unique meeting IDs should always be used for successive meetings. File transfers can be used to distribute malware and should therefore be disabled if possible.

– Control functions, especially for large meetings and events –

Anyone who frequently holds large meetings or events with more than 25 people should invest in solutions with security functions designed for this purpose. These make it possible, for example, to delegate monitoring and control and to moderate question and answer sessions.

– Avoid download delays with browser-based meetings –

Some solutions require software to be installed, which delays the start of the meeting. With solutions that use the browser-based real-time communication standard WebRTC, participants can take part in the meeting with a click of the mouse directly in the browser.

– Follow basic security rules –

According to the online security expert Check Point, 90 percent of all cyberattacks start with a phishing campaign. Anyone who receives a link for a video conference via email or social channels should contact the sender to verify legitimacy.

Never open links and attachments in emails from unknown senders and pay attention to classic references to cybercrime such as misspellings in URLs and emails.

Our data shows the tremendous effort that organizations and people around the world have made in the shortest possible time to stop the spread of the corona virus by working from home,commented Alagu Periyannan, CTO and co-founder of BlueJeans Network.

We hope that BlueJeans video conferencing app security guidelines will help you to work safely from home, and to ensure the protection of business processes and personal data even during these difficult times.

We have introduced some best video conferencing apps free to use and give you tips to make your digital meetings better.