Microsoft Teams will soon gain the ability to ‘lock’ out uninvited users

Rival app Zoom had to add a similar setting last year to prevent unwanted users from joining a meeting after similar issues, which began to be known as Zoombombing.

Microsoft Teams (Microsoft)

Microsoft Teams is one of the most popular videoconferencing tools that has grown in popularity during the novel coronavirus pandemic, like its competitors Zoom and Google Meet. With more offices opting to work remotely, these tools will only get more popular with time. Teams will soon get a new feature that will make calls using the app more secure.

According to a report by Techradar, Microsoft Teams will receive a new feature in an update in the future, which give it an important feature that its rival Zoom already has - the ability to prevent other people from joining a call. This is related to the issue of uninvited members joining because another user shared the link to the meeting.

The ability to “lock” a meeting on Teams, will essentially block out ininvited outsiders who manage to get the link to join the meeting (as a guest) and cause disturbances. Readers might recall Zoom had to add a similar setting to prevent unwanted users from joining a meeting after similar issues, colloquially called Zoombombing.

The report states that Microsoft has added a roadmap entry for the upcoming feature which is titled "Microsoft Teams: Lock a meeting from additional joins". While the term additional joins could also mean preventing other members from the same organisation from joining a meeting unless they were invited, the ‘Zoomboming' explanation seems more likely, given how Teams allows users to join a meeting with a link.

It remains to be seen whether the tool, which is being developed right now (and is expected to be available to users around May this year) will actually make a difference in terms of securing meetings. This is because Zoom still suffers from some of the same issues, especially among users who are less familiar with the technical tools available at their disposal. Users can still protect their chats by not sharing the links outside their organisation.