Threat model and security analysis of video conferencing systems as a communication paradigm during the COVID-19 pandemic

During the age of the COVID-19 pandemic, video conferencing and collaborative tools have seen an enormous demand. This technology allows us to have real-time interaction during this social distancing era, primarily to facilitate remote working, file sharing, and social interaction. While video conferencing technology is not new, it has emerged as a new paradigm of communication. As video conferencing becomes commonplace and people increasingly rely on it, meetings are becoming a target for cyberattackers. Enforcing appropriate security and privacy settings prevents attackers from exploiting the system. Threat modeling optimizes security by identifying objectives, vulnerabilities and defining the plan to mitigate or prevent potential threats to the system. In this paper, we use the widely accepted STRIDE threat modeling technique to identify all possible risks to video conferencing tools and suggest mitigation strategies for creating a safe and secure system.