Remember "Zoombombing" in 2020?

Cyber attackers infiltrated Zoom meetings, exposing over 500,000 user accounts and passwords, leading to financial setbacks, legal complications, and reputational damage for the company. In 2023, security experts at Cyble discovered phishing schemes tricking users into installing IceID malware disguised as authentic Zoom updates, compromising critical data, and disrupting operations.

As if that wasn't enough, 2022 saw security vulnerabilities in Zoom itself. These vulnerabilities unauthorized users to join meetings or even steal audio and video data.

Fast-forward to today, new threats have emerged. This guide explores Zoom security measures to ensure your Zoom meetings are a platform for collaboration, not compromise.

Zoom Security Challenges—How secure is Zoom? 

Zoom is a popular tool for virtual meetings and teamwork, but it has its fair share of security concerns. These issues could threaten users' privacy and safety. 

Let's look at some of the critical challenges Zoom is grappling with:

Unauthorized access: Unauthorized attendees can disrupt Zoom meetings by accessing them through leaked or guessed links and passwords, known as Zoombombing. This may lead to harassment, distractions, and the compromise of sensitive information like health (PHI) and personally identifiable information (PII).

Data leakage: Zoom shares user data with third-party applications without users' explicit consent, potentially risking personal information such as names, email addresses, device specifics, and location data to misuse and abuse.

Password vulnerabilities: Zoom passwords are not secure against brute-force attacks or credential stuffing, leaving them open to hacker exploitation by hackers who can gain unauthorized access to Zoom accounts and meetings.

Lack of visibility and control: Users might not be familiar with all the security options and tools available or how to use them effectively. Meanwhile, hosts may find it challenging to control participants' activities, such as screen sharing, sending files, or engaging in private chats.

Exploring Zoom's Native Security Measures

Zoom has introduced several built-in security features to safeguard users and their data. These include:

• End-to-end encryption (E2EE): Zoom provides the option of end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for all participants in meetings, guaranteeing that data exchanged between users remains secure and inaccessible to unauthorized parties.
• Meeting passwords: To prevent unauthorized access, meeting passwords are mandatory, with the option to have passwords automatically generated or set by the host.
• Waiting rooms: With this, hosts can manage the timing of participant entry in meetings. They can let attendees in individually or all together, providing an extra level of authority and keeping unwanted guests out. 
• Meeting lock: Locking a meeting allows hosts to prevent new participants from joining, even if they have the meeting ID and password.
• Participant removal: Hosts can eliminate participants from a meeting as necessary, which proves beneficial in handling disruptive conduct.
• Role-based user security: Hosts can assign different roles to participants, giving them control over screen sharing, chat privileges, muting abilities, and other features.
• Watermarks: Watermarks can be applied to video and shared content for extra security, particularly in sensitive commercial or educational environments, to prevent and track leaks.
• Screen sharing protections: Hosts can restrict screen sharing to only themselves or authorize specific users to share their screens, minimizing the chance of exposed sensitive information.
• Data routing control: Users and organizations can determine the specific data center regions where their meeting data travels. This ensures compliance with regional data privacy regulations.
• Two-factor authentication (2FA): Zoom offers dual-factor authentication as an additional security measure for user login processes.

Limitations of Native Zoom DLP

1. Generic functionality:

‍Zoom's DLP capabilities are limited and more suited to general security needs than specialized industry requirements or strict regulatory standards. 

2. Lack of advanced data identification:

‍Unlike advanced DLP systems that utilize advanced data identification techniques like pattern recognition and machine learning, Zoom's native tools lack these sophisticated features, leading to overlooked vulnerabilities that may compromise the security of sensitive information.

3. Dependence on user compliance:

‍Zoom's data loss prevention (DLP) measures' success is heavily influenced by how well users follow security guidelines and enable necessary features. If users neglect to adhere to security protocols or overlook certain settings, the potential for data leakage escalates.

4. No contextual analysis:

‍Unlike many modern DLP solutions that use contextual analysis to assess data-sharing situations, Zoom's DLP lacks this capability. It can't distinguish between regular and potentially risky data-sharing contexts, weakening its ability to prevent breaches.

5. Integration limitations:

‍The compatibility issues between Zoom's DLP features and current enterprise DLP solutions and IT setups could create challenges for organizations to maintain a unified security perspective across different platforms. This could potentially lead to vulnerabilities in data protection, impacting the overall security posture. Integrating third-party apps into Zoom also carries the risk of exposing security vulnerabilities if these apps are compromised or malicious.

Best Practices for Zoom Security

To enhance Zoom security, organizations should follow the below best practices:

1. End-to-end visibility

Gain a comprehensive understanding of how Zoom is used, its performance, and data security across the organization. Use tools like dashboards, reports, and alerts to monitor and analyze Zoom data and metrics continuously. 

Employ security measures like single sign-on, multi-factor authentication, and role-based access control to guarantee that only authorized individuals can use Zoom services. Keep a close eye on the actions of Zoom users and hosts using tracking tools. Utilize logs, analytics, and notifications to promptly detect and thwart any potentially suspicious or inappropriate activities on the platform.

2. Password protection

Keep your Zoom meetings and recordings safe with strong, unique passwords. Use password tools to generate, manage, and validate secure passwords. Never disclose passwords to untrustworthy sources or in public. Implement rules like expiration dates, complexity requirements, and password history checks to guarantee regular updates and prevent breaches. 

3. Granular data access control

Manage and restrict access to Zoom data, including recordings, transcripts, chat messages, and files, by employing encryption, permissions, and classifications to protect sensitive information. Delete or archive unnecessary or outdated data. Automate security processes with workflows, triggers, and actions to manage meetings, handle users and hosts, and address security incidents. Enforce security policies and regulations by implementing policy engines, validators, and enforcers to align with organizational and industry standards.

4. Regularly review access controls

Continuously monitor and update access to sensitive information in your organization to guarantee that only approved staff members can utilize Zoom.

5. Identifying vulnerabilities

Evaluate potential security risks and vulnerabilities in Zoom with vulnerability scanners, penetration testers, and security audits

6. Integration with third-party security solutions

Use external security tools to enhance Zoom's security, including antivirus, firewall, VPN, encryption, and authentication. Ensure compatibility with your organization's security standards. 

7. User education and training

Educate and train Zoom users on how to use the platform safely, including setting up and joining meetings, utilizing security features, and reporting incidents. Offer staff training on Zoom usage, focusing on compliance during video consultations and when sharing sensitive information. 

8. Regular security audits and updates

Conduct routine security assessments and regularly monitor Zoom settings, policies, and usage. Ensure Zoom software has the latest versions and patches to address security vulnerabilities. Stay vigilant for any potential security risks or threats that may emerge.

9. Secure meeting practices

• Enhance the security of your meetings by implementing a passcode requirement for access. 
• Disable recording capabilities or ensure recordings are securely stored and compliant to prevent unauthorized access. 
• Use waiting rooms to carefully admit participants one by one or in specified groups, allowing you to remove any unwanted or disruptive attendees. 
• Employ passwords for meetings as an additional layer of security to prevent unauthorized entry, and share these passwords securely with participants.
• Set up screen-sharing options to control who can share their screen during a session and avoid accidentally sharing confidential information.
• Employ end-to-end encryption for Zoom meetings to safeguard the meeting content from being accessed by Zoom or any external entities. 
• Evaluate and customize security options and functions by disabling features like join before host, file transfer, and private chat while enabling exclusive screen sharing for hosts, locking meetings, and muting all participants.
• Develop policies. Establish guidelines for Zoom data usage in your organization, outlining protocols for initiating meetings, inviting participants, and protecting confidential information.

10. Employ Data Loss Prevention Solutions

Prevent data loss or unauthorized data access on Zoom with DLP's scanning and filtering abilities. Employ DLP tools to block, alert, or isolate any data that breaches regulations. Evaluate and promptly address any data loss incidents with a comprehensive review and corrective measures.

How Strac Can Help With Zoom Security?

Employing content analysis and filtering

Strac's Zoom DLP uses content analysis and filtering to monitor and analyze the content shared in Zoom meetings and chats in real time. It identifies sensitive information based on predefined policies and rules and remediates it through redaction or deletion.

Enforcing compliance measures

Strac Zoom DLP ensures that only authorized data is shared during meetings, with all sharing activities logged and auditable. It also offers redaction features to anonymize sensitive information before sharing it. 

Mitigating insider threats 

Strac DLP uses Zoom data monitoring to identify and block unauthorized disclosures from insiders, whether intentional or accidental. This involves monitoring file uploads and messages exchanged through Zoom's chat function.

Facilitating secure collaboration

Strac Zoom DLP ensures only authorized information is shared with external parties to promote secure collaboration. Users can customize policies based on user roles, meeting configurations, or data sensitivity levels to control sharing.

Promoting user education

Strac Zoom DLP actively educates users by offering instant feedback when sharing sensitive information, thus enhancing their awareness of data protection policies and minimizing unintentional data breaches.

Integrating with corporate policies

Strac Zoom DLP offers seamless integration with overall organizational data protection plans, guaranteeing uniformity across various communication platforms. This includes email, customer support, Slack, MS Teams, Jira, Confluence, ChatGPT, cloud storage such as AWS S3, and other services. Check out all our available integrations.

Schedule a demo with Strac today to secure your Zoom meetings!