Dealing with highly confidential legal matters and cases means that law firms need to be able to keep meetings, calls, and client information secure. And due to the events of the last year and a half, many meetings have been relegated to online platforms, with Zoom being the platform of choice.

The majority of Zoom security advice has focused on how to create a secure meeting and let others into it, rather than preventing your calls and data from being leaked. And to their credit, Zoom has gone to extraordinary lengths to increase security in their product, and options will continue to be developed to keep the bad guys out.

But do you know how to keep your Zoom calls secure and prevent them from being listened to? It only takes five short minutes to adjust your security settings to make it darn difficult for others to listen in to your meetings and keep your conversation recordings as safe as possible after the meeting.

I’ll share my own step-by-step advice, as well as some of Zoom’s own articles on how to do this. There are options available for both free and paid accounts.

For convenience, I have split this up into 2 ways to read it:

  • Step-by-step instructions on security settings
  • Helpful additional resources from Zoom

Step-by-step instructions on how to adjust the settings yourself

For Free Accounts
First, you must log in to Zoom as these settings are only available in the web browser.

Restrict which countries can join and make encrypt the conversation end-to-end:

  1. Settings
  2. Meeting
  3. Security (scroll down)
  4. Configure Approve or block entry for users from specific countries/regions to be only Australia
  5. Allow use of end-to-end encryption – ON
  6. Default encryption type – ON

For Paid Accounts
Those with paid accounts have a few additional options. You’ll need to configure the account, then the user or users.

First, you must log in to Zoom as these settings are only available in the web browser.

Set your recording to a specific country:

  • Admin
  • Account Management
  • Account Profile
  • Recording – “Australia”
  • Customize data center regions for meeting/webinar in transit – Australia

Encrypt your meeting:

  • Admin
  • Account Management
  • Account Settings
  • Allow use of end-to-end encryption – ON
  • Default encryption type – select End-to-End encryption

Manage users data:

  • Admin
  • User Management
  • Users
  • Check that Recording and Transit Data are set to Australia

For those that are unfamiliar with what data transit (sometimes referred to as data in motion) is, it means that data is actively moving from one location to another across the Internet or through a private network.

On an interesting note, Zoom wrote, “If you do not opt-in by April 25, 2020, your account will not be able to connect to mainland China for data transit.”

Further assistance

If you find yourself needing more information, Zoom’s knowledge and support centre has provided more detailed articles:

If your law firm is wanting to upgrade IT security or ensure that your data is kept as secure as possible, it may be time to reach out for assistance. At Innessco, we offer managed IT services for law firms. We can develop effective, tailored strategies that align with your firm’s goals and ensure that you’re able to minimise security risks for your confidential information and data.

Contact us today to find out more about how we can empower your law firm with state-of-the-art IT and security.