Best practices for securing your Teams meetings from unauthorized access
Every day, businesses and organizations across industries rely on Microsoft Teams to collaborate, share ideas, and stay connected no matter where they are. With security at the core of our platform, we’ve designed Microsoft Teams to help organizations manage meetings with confidence, prevent disruptions, and protect sensitive conversations. At the same time, the rapid advancements in AI and large language models (LLMs) have presented new challenges in controlling who—or what—enters a meeting. As automated bots and AI-driven threats become more sophisticated, preventing unauthorized access requires a proactive approach. While Microsoft Teams is built with powerful protections, staying informed and leveraging the right security tools is essential to keeping your meetings secure. In response to growing concerns around meeting security, many IT administrators take a cautious approach by disabling all external access to virtual meetings across their organization. While this may reduce immediate risk, it can also limit the effectiveness of virtual meetings as a tool for external collaboration. Rather than choosing between security and collaboration, organizations need solutions that deliver both. This blog explores best practices for protecting Teams meetings from unauthorized access while still enabling the open, productive collaboration today’s teams depend on. Manage meeting access and join experience One of the most important ways to secure your meetings is by controlling access to the meeting and verifying attendees. The first step to managing meeting access is to enable the meeting lobby. The Teams meeting lobby prevents certain types of participants from directly joining a meeting until a meeting organizer admits them. When a participant goes to the lobby, organizers are notified and can admit them to the meeting or not. Meeting organizers can choose in meeting options who can bypass the lobby and join the meeting directly, as well as which meeting roles can admit participants waiting in the lobby. Organizers can enable lobby for all meetings by setting the "Who can bypass the lobby" control to a value of "people in my org." This will result in users outside of your organization, including bots, joining as anonymous users and waiting in the lobby, they then must be admitted to the meeting. Meeting organizers can also enable the setting for "Who can admit from lobby" to "Organizer and co-organizer only" to reduce the number of participants who can admit from the lobby. After enabling lobby controls, the next step is to employ direct blocking of external participants. IT administrators can use the external access feature to block specific external domains, including known bot domains. This prevents participants from these domains from joining meetings directly. External access allows for a more granular way to control who enters meetings, unlike the control to block all anonymous or unverified users from joining meetings at the organization level, or applied to specific organizers or groups. By toggling the “Anonymous users can join a meeting” and “Anonymous users can join a meeting unverified” to the “Off” state, this can help prevent unauthorized participants—including external recording bots—from joining meetings, but it will limit Microsoft Teams from facilitating all external collaboration. Additionally, IT administrators can enable a CAPTCHA-based human verification test and apply it to anonymous and non-federated users. Once set, any anonymous user that attempts to join the meeting will be required to pass the CAPTCHA test before proceeding. As an advanced measure, email verification of external attendees is available to meeting organizers with a Teams Premium license. With email verification, meeting organizers can require external participants to verify their email addresses with a verification code before joining the meeting. Once verified, participants will appear in the meeting with the ‘Email verified’ label, offering a more reliable way for organizers to manage external participants. Protect Sensitive Information Now that you can confidently control who enters your meeting, let’s dive into the safeguards designed to protect your data, privacy, and sensitive information during the meeting. A Microsoft Teams Premium subscription delivers advanced protection for your meeting data through watermarking, end-to-end encryption, granular meeting controls, and sensitivity labels. First, let’s look at watermarking. Meeting watermarks can be enabled for both content shared on screen and for attendee video. When you apply a watermark, participants will see their own email address overlaid across shared content in the meeting window. This deters people from taking unauthorized screenshots of shared content. For highly confidential meetings, end-to-end encryption (E2EE) helps add an additional layer of privacy where only the participants can hear or see the communication. No other party—including Microsoft—has access to the decrypted conversation. The E2EE works on top of industry-standard encryption in transit and at rest always provided by Teams. Teams Premium also delivers more granular controls for meeting activity and access to meeting artifacts. Manage who can record and transcribe meetings. Meeting organizers can manage which roles can initiate recording and transcription for a meeting. Learn more. Block copying or forwarding of live captions, transcript, and recap for meetings. Meeting organizers can block participants’ ability to copy the meeting chat, live captions, live transcript, or any insights generated from intelligent meeting recap. Learn more. Prevent users from sharing external content in meetings. IT administrators can control whether users in your org with a Teams Premium license can share content when attending external Teams meetings. Learn more. Organization templates. IT administrators can use organization templates to enforce meeting options or to set defaults. Each template option can be locked so the meeting organizer can't change it, or can be left unlocked for the meeting organizer to change if needed. Learn more. Sensitivity labels are used to classify and protect sensitive information within the organization. They help ensure that only authorized individuals can access certain content, including meetings. Sensitivity labels can be applied to meetings to restrict access based on the classification of the information being discussed. This can include preventing external participants from joining or limiting the ability to record the meeting. Depending on how an organization configures its labels, Teams Premium applies a templatized set of designated meeting options to enhance security and compliance. Those options include: Who needs to wait in the meeting lobby Who needs to ask to join the meeting Calendar labels, for example, “Do not forward” Enforcing automatic recording Restricted copying and pasting from the meeting chat Advanced encryption control for audio-video streams Watermarking on live content and video User education We recognize that security, compliance, and privacy have never been more important, and we’re committed to delivering solutions that are secure by design. But protecting meetings isn’t just up to us; it’s a shared responsibility. When it comes to meeting security, the best asset is educated users who employ the security features effectively. Training your team on best practices is critical, tips like training users to deny unverified participants from the lobby, ensuring organizers check names before admitting participants, and familiarizing everyone with the security measures outlined in this blog are essential to maximizing your organization’s security. No matter how you’re using Teams in this rapidly evolving landscape, we remain committed to continuing to learn and get better each day as we work to help you keep all your conversations private and secure. Our approach to these important issues is designed to give you the control and manageability you need to have peace of mind against dynamic threats. Please check out the Security guide for Microsoft Teams and the Microsoft Trust Center for more details.
Compliance recording bot call establishment delay
Hello, I have a compliance recording bot, running for US companies, declared in my tenant. Customers are complaining about long call establishement delays. When looking for Microsoft IP that channel the invites, I notice they are coming from all around the world, from Japan or Ireland for instance. During bot creation I've set up its region to "Gobal", as my tenant allows me only to select "Gobal", "West Europe", and "Central India". I don't know if this is related to this configuration or not. Is there a way to lower these delays, and how ? Thank you for your answer !How to Leverage Microsoft Teams for Remote Collaboration
Microsoft Teams is a powerful tool for remote collaboration, offering a wide range of features that can help teams stay connected, organized, and productive. Here are some tips and best practices to make the most of Microsoft Teams for remote collaboration. 1. Organize Your Teams and Channels Create Teams and Channels: Set up teams based on projects, departments, or functions. Within each team, create channels for specific topics or tasks to keep conversations organized. To learn more about creating a channel, please visit: Create a standard, private, or shared channel in Microsoft Teams - Microsoft Support Pin Important Channels: Pin frequently used channels to the top of your Teams pane for easy access. To learn more about pining posts, please visit: Show channel info in Microsoft Teams - Microsoft Support 2. Utilize Chat and Messaging Features Real-Time Communication: Use individual and group chats for quick, real-time communication. This helps reduce email clutter and speeds up decision-making1. Use @Mentions: Tag team members using @mentions to draw their attention to specific messages or tasks. To learn more about messaging features, please visit: Mastering Microsoft Teams Messaging: A Guide to Message Bar Features | Microsoft Community Hub 3. Leverage Video Conferencing Host Virtual Meetings: Schedule and host virtual meetings with up to 10,000 participants. Use features like screen sharing, recording, and background effects to enhance the meeting experience. Together Mode: Use Together Mode to create a more engaging and inclusive meeting environment by placing participants in a shared virtual space. To learn more about video conferencing and Together Mode in Teams, please visit: Video Conferencing Software | Microsoft Teams 4. Collaborate on Files File Sharing and Co-Authoring: Share files directly within Teams and collaborate in real-time. Use OneDrive and SharePoint integration for seamless file management. Version History: Track changes and access previous versions of documents to ensure accuracy and accountability. To learn more about file sharing, please visit: Upload and share files - Microsoft Support 5. Integrate with Other Microsoft Products Planner Integration: Use Microsoft Planner to manage tasks and projects within Teams. Create, assign, and track tasks to keep everyone on the same page. OneNote Integration: Integrate OneNote for note-taking and information sharing during meetings and projects. 6. Automate Workflows Power Automate: Use Power Automate to create automated workflows that streamline repetitive tasks and processes. This can save time and reduce errors. To learn more about creating flow in Microsoft Teams, please visit: Create flows in Microsoft Teams - Power Automate | Microsoft Learn Custom Apps: Develop and integrate custom apps using the Teams developer platform to meet specific needs. To learn more about building custom apps for Team, please visit: Create Low-code & No-code Custom Apps - Teams | Microsoft Learn 7. Enhance Security and Compliance Data Protection: Ensure data security with features like encryption, multi-factor authentication, and compliance with industry standards. Manage Permissions: Control access to teams, channels, and files by setting appropriate permissions for team members. 8. Foster Team Engagement Use Polls and Surveys: Engage team members by using polls and surveys to gather feedback and make decisions collaboratively. To learn more about creating a poll in Teams, please visit: Create a poll in Microsoft Teams - Microsoft Support. To learn more about create surveys in Teams, please visit: Create a survey in Microsoft Teams - Microsoft Support Celebrate Milestones: Recognize and celebrate team achievements and milestones to boost morale and foster a positive team culture. Conclusion Microsoft Teams offers a comprehensive suite of tools for remote collaboration, making it easier for teams to stay connected, organized, and productive. By organizing teams and channels, utilizing chat and messaging features, leveraging video conferencing, collaborating on files, integrating with other Microsoft products, automating workflows, enhancing security, and fostering team engagement, you can maximize the potential of Microsoft Teams for your remote collaboration needs.
Signing in gets stuck for my work account
I can sign in and use Teams with my personal account without any issues. However, when I try to sign in with my work account, it gets stuck: The error message: Request Id: 3b2d9150-dc97-4de8-a48c-44dc53b6fa00 Correlation Id: 84d596d1-4451-4f88-999b-6ff8d34b3f72 Timestamp: 2025-05-07T10:42:26Z Message: AADSTS7000112: Application '1fec8e78-bce4-4aaf-ab1b-5451cc387264'(Microsoft Teams) is disabled. I have been trying for about two hours. I checked my work account with Microsoft and saw no problems. Actually, I am using my work account to post this message. Could anyone offer a tip on how to diagnose this?
Critical Chat Bugs Remain Unfixed
Version 25094.310.3616.953 was just released and your still have EXTREMELY SERIOUS bugs that are still not fixed. This is disgraceful. Chat Bugs: Bug that makes Teams Chat Worthless: If you set Settings, General, "Open Application in Background" two things happen: First, When restarting Windows the tray icon does not appear. Second (makes Teams Worthless): If you receive a chat message, there is NO notification that it arrived. There is no tray icon and even if you pin Teams to the taskbar, that also does NOT show a notification of a missed chat message. This is makes teams WORTHLESS for chats. More Chat Bugs: Bug 1: Read Receipts do NOT work if you have Teams installed on more than one computer. This is a serous bug that never happened with Skype. Bug 2: The Tray icon does NOT show unread chats. This is a serous bug that never happened with Skype. Note: If your Right click on Teams and select "Pin To Taskbar", that icon will work (but not the tray icon). This assumes you do NOT select ""Open Application in Background"! Bug 3: When set to start up in background, the tray icon does not appear. Bug 4: Right clicking the tray icon causes Teams to crash and the tray icon to close. Bug 5: Teams status is unreliable and frequently shows "unknown". See Screenshot. Get your Act Together. The new Teams app is widely perceived as a buggy festering pile of crap by a significant portion of its user base, particularly among IT professionals tasked with supporting it. While a minority report improvements, the prevailing sentiment is negative, driven by technical problems, forced migration, and inadequate support responses. Many organizations are now seeking alternatives due to the ongoing issues.Trying to Mimic Slack Experience
Hey Team, I'm migrating from Slack and trying to recreate some of the UI experiences in Teams. One hassle so far is that in Slack my chats are automatically alphabetized, and unread chats appear atop the read chats, also alphabetized. Unless I'm missing something, it doesn't appear that Teams has an alphabetized default view for chats. This makes finding older chats quite difficult since they are all out of order rather, than being able to scroll to a persons name really quickly like in Slack based on the alphabet. Does anyone have a solution?Town Hall Meeting vs Webinar: Understanding the Differences
In the world of virtual events, town hall meetings and webinars are two popular formats that serve distinct purposes. While both are effective for engaging audiences, they differ in their structure, features, and use cases. Understanding these differences can help you choose the right format for your needs. Let's explore the key distinctions between town hall meetings and webinars. Town Hall Meetings Purpose: Town hall meetings are designed for large-scale, interactive discussions. They are typically used for organizational updates, community engagement, and open forums where participants can ask questions and share feedback. Audience Interaction: Town hall meetings prioritize audience interaction. Attendees can use features like Q&A, chat, reactions, and hand raises to participate actively. This format fosters a sense of community and encourages open dialogue. Features: Interactive Tools: Q&A, chat, reactions, hand raises Large Audience Capacity: Can accommodate up to 10,000 participants, with Teams Premium allowing up to 50,0002 Green Room: A space for presenters to prepare before the event starts2 Real-Time Engagement: Attendees can interact directly with presenters and other participants2 Use Cases: Town hall meetings are ideal for company-wide updates, community forums, and events where active participation is crucial. They are often used by executives to communicate with employees or by organizations to engage with stakeholders. Webinars Purpose: Webinars are designed for structured presentations and educational sessions. They are typically used for training, product demonstrations, and informational sessions where the focus is on delivering content to the audience. Audience Interaction: Webinars offer limited audience interaction compared to town hall meetings. While attendees can ask questions through Q&A, the interaction is more controlled and less frequent. Features: Presentation Tools: Screen sharing, PowerPoint Live, video playback Moderated Q&A: Attendees can submit questions, which are moderated by the host Registration: Allows for pre-event registration and tracking Breakout Rooms: Available for smaller group discussions if the webinar has fewer than 300 participants Use Cases: Webinars are ideal for training sessions, product launches, and educational workshops. They are often used by marketers, educators, and trainers to deliver content to a large audience in a structured manner. Key Differences Interaction Level: Town hall meetings offer higher levels of interaction, making them suitable for discussions and feedback. Webinars focus on delivering content with controlled interaction. Audience Size: Both formats can accommodate large audiences, but town hall meetings can handle more participants with Teams Premium. Features: Town hall meetings include interactive tools like chat and reactions, while webinars focus on presentation tools and moderated Q&A. Use Cases: Town hall meetings are used for open forums and community engagement, whereas webinars are used for structured presentations and training sessions. Conclusion Choosing between a town hall meeting and a webinar depends on your event's goals and the level of interaction you need. Town hall meetings are perfect for engaging large audiences in interactive discussions, while webinars are ideal for delivering structured content to a focused audience. By understanding the differences, you can select the format that best suits your needs and ensures a successful virtual event. To learn more about hosting engaging and interactive webinars, please visit: Unlock the Power of Webinars with Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Community HubDecoding SharePoint Roles: What Nonprofits Should Know About Site Memberships
If you've ever clicked into the "Memberships" tab of an active site in the SharePoint Admin Center, you’ve probably seen a confusing mix of roles like: Owners Members Site Admins Site Owners Site Members Site Visitors For many nonprofits—especially those without dedicated IT staff—it’s hard to know who should have which role, and what each one actually does. This guide breaks it down in plain language to help your team understand what these roles mean, where they come from, and how to manage them effectively and securely. Getting Started: How to Access and Manage Site Memberships in the SharePoint Admin Center Before we dive deeper into roles, let’s walk through how to actually get to the screen where all these memberships appear. If your nonprofit uses Microsoft 365 and you're tasked with managing access to SharePoint sites, you'll do most of that through the SharePoint Admin Center. Here’s how to find and manage the memberships for your active sites: Go to the Microsoft 365 Admin Center: Visit admin.microsoft.com and sign in with your admin account credentials. In the left-hand menu, select "Show All" and then click on “SharePoint” under the “Admin centers” section. This will open the SharePoint Admin Center in a new tab. From the left menu in the SharePoint Admin Center, click on “Active sites.” This will show you a list of all SharePoint sites associated with your tenant. Find the site you want to manage and click on its name. This opens the details panel for that specific site. Click the “Membership” tab at the top of the site detail panel. Here, you'll see different role groups—such as Owners, Members, Site Admins, Site Owners, Site Members, and Site Visitors—depending on how the site was created. If your site is group-connected (such as one tied to Microsoft Teams), you’ll see both Microsoft 365 Group roles and SharePoint roles listed. For standalone sites, you’ll usually only see SharePoint-specific roles. Now that you know how to get there, let’s take a closer look at what each of those roles means—and how to assign them responsibly. Overview: What You'll See in the SharePoint Admin Center Not all SharePoint sites are the same, and the roles you see in the Admin Center depend on how the site was created. Group-connected sites (like those created from Microsoft Teams or Microsoft 365 Groups): You’ll see Owners, Members, Site Admins, Site Owners, Site Members, and Site Visitors. Standalone collaboration or communication sites (created directly in SharePoint): You’ll typically only see Site Admins, Site Owners, Site Members, and Site Visitors. Understanding which roles appear—and why—can help you assign access appropriately and avoid giving people more (or less) control than intended. Microsoft 365 Group Roles Owners These are Microsoft 365 Group Owners. Automatically have Site Owner permissions in SharePoint. Can manage group membership, delete the site, configure connected Teams settings, and more. Best for: Program managers, team leads, or IT admins who need full control over the workspace. Members These are Microsoft 365 Group Members. Automatically have Site Member permissions in SharePoint. Can upload, edit, and collaborate on content, but cannot change site settings. Best for: Staff, volunteers, or partners actively contributing to projects and documents. SharePoint Roles (Permission Groups) Site Owners Have Full Control permissions within the SharePoint site. Can manage site structure, pages, permissions, and lists. If the site is group-connected, Group Owners will appear here automatically. Site Members Have Edit permissions. Can upload and change content in libraries and lists but cannot adjust permissions. Best for: Users who contribute content but don’t need site-wide control. Site Visitors Have Read-only permissions. Can view pages and documents, but cannot make any changes. Best for: Board members, donors, evaluators, or anyone who needs access to view materials without editing. Site Admins This role is specific to SharePoint and appears in both standalone and group-connected sites. Site Admins have full control over the site. They may not be part of the Microsoft 365 Group and are often added manually. Common for IT personnel or SharePoint coordinators who manage multiple sites. Important: Site Admins can manage everything—even if they’re not listed as Owners. Why It’s Confusing in the Admin Center The SharePoint Admin Center displays both Microsoft 365 group roles and SharePoint permission groups, which can create confusion. Here's a simplified breakdown: Role in Admin Center What it Actually Means Owners Microsoft 365 Group Owners (also Site Owners) Members Microsoft 365 Group Members (also Site Members) Site Admins SharePoint admins, often added manually Site Owners SharePoint Full Control group Site Members SharePoint Edit group Site Visitors SharePoint Read-only group This overlap happens because Microsoft 365 and SharePoint use different systems to manage permissions, even though they’re integrated. Understanding the distinction helps prevent mismanagement of roles. Best Practices for Nonprofits Limit Site Owners – Only assign this role to those who manage structure, settings, or permissions. Use Groups for Access Control – Add users to Microsoft 365 Groups or SharePoint groups rather than assigning roles individually. Regularly Audit Permissions – Check who has access, especially after program cycles or staff changes. Define Roles for New Users – Clarify expectations and access levels during onboarding. Secure Guest Access – Monitor and remove external users after a project or program ends. Understanding SharePoint roles in the Admin Center isn’t just about managing access—it’s about supporting your nonprofit’s mission. With the right people in the right roles, your team can collaborate effectively, protect sensitive data, and reduce risk.
Teams pulls up main window after switching application windows during a meeting
I hope I can explain this properly, please let me know if it isn't clear. OS: macOS Sonoma Teams version: 24277.3502.3161.3007 When I am in a Teams call, I will often need to temporarily switch windows to Chrome or another application. When I tab back to the Teams call, the Main Teams window will pop up on top of the call, which requires me to minimize it in order to view the call window. I haven't been able to find a setting that addresses this specifically. Simplified steps: Join a Teams call from the the primary Teams window or Outlook calendar Switch applications to something else - Slack, Chrome, etc. Click the Teams icon in the dock The Teams call will take focus The Teams main window automatically pops up overlays the call, hiding it Thanks in advance for your help and please let me know if there is anything I can clarify.
