How to keep your Zoom meetings safe: Follow these guidelines from MHA

Ministry of Home Affairs has issued an advisory on Thursday evening, asking everyone to be careful about using Zoom. It has also issued a bunch of guidelines for those who need to use the app, despite the security concerns raised across the globe. “This advisory states that the platform is not for use by government officers/officials for official purposes," a statement from the ministry said. 

Zoom became a popular application for executives conducting meetings while working from home during the countrywide lockdown announced by the central government to contain coronavirus pandemic in the country.

"The document makes reference to earlier advisories of the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert-In) and states that Zoom is not a safe platform. The guidelines have been issued to safeguard private individuals who would still like to use the platform for private purposes," the ministry said.

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Here is how to keep your Zoom meetings safe, as per the advisory –

- Set a new user ID and password for each meeting.

- Enable the Waiting Room feature in order to ensure that a user can enter only when the host conducting the meeting permits him to.

- Disable the ‘join before host’ feature.

- Allow screen sharing by host only.

- Disable the ‘Allow removed participants to re-join’ feature.

- Restrict file transfer option.

- Restrict recording feature.

-- End the meeting, do not just leave it.

The app had recently rolled out some features to stem criticism over how it has handled security as users flock to the application during the coronavirus pandemic.Zoom chief executive Eric Yuan laid out steps Wednesday that the company is taking against problems such as data hacking and harassment by individuals who crash sessions in what is referred to as "Zoombombing."