Is Someone listening?

Reason #101 to use OCS for audio conferencing. 

Who is listening in on your conference call?  With our previous conference bridge solution, we were assigned a permanent attendee code for people to use to join a conference call.  This number provides the authentication required to join the meeting (i.e. what you know)..but it doesn't prevent other from joining your call that do not belong, and perhaps hearing sensitive or confidential information.

Case in point, a large group of people (including myself) were sent a meeting invite for something by accident.  I had nothing to do with the meeting, but the subject was enticing (as was the invite list).  The meeting organizer realized the mistake and tried to cancel and resend out the invite, but the meeting codes had not changed..so I was able to join the meeting.

Had the organizer been using OCS with audio conferencing, they could have selected the meeting option to generate a new conference ID for each conference. (You can find this option after you create a new meeting invite – under the Audio options)

This also is great for times when you have back to back meetings with different people.

Another security option for OCS meetings have is to allow only authenticated users join.  There are 3 options:

1. Invite anyone – This is what you would choose if you need to invite people outside your company.  This allows ‘anonymous’ users to join.

2. Invite within network – This allows anyone in your company to join.

3. Invite within network (restricted) - You can invite people within your company, and only the people on the invite can attend.

If you initiate the call via OC, then the user names are resolved and you can see exactly who is in your conference call.

So the options are there..use them and have more secure meetings!