Pub. 2 2020 Issue 4

13 nebraska society of cpas W W W . N E S C P A . O R G VIDEOCONFERENCING: 10 PRIVACY TIPS FOR YOUR BUSINESS BY JONAH FABRICANT , FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION Between social distancing andCOVID-19 stay-at-home orders, companies are turning to videoconferencing services to get down to business. While these services help you connect, they also pose new privacy and data security risks. Here are some tips to keep in mind before hosting or joining a videoconference online: 1. Take steps to ensure only invited participants are able to join your meeting. People may call it “zoombombing,” but it’s a consideration across all kinds of platforms: uninvited people showing up on videoconferences. What can your company do to reduce the risk? Some services allow hosts to password-protect a meeting. Others limit access by providing unique ID numbers for each meeting or for each participant. These features may not be enabled by default, so look carefully at what settings are available. If you host recurring meetings, most services let you create new passwords or ID numbers for each meeting. That method is more secure than reusing old credentials, so establish that as the policy for your employees.