While you normally feel safe about everything a corporation does, it seems like its video conferences can be leaked with ease. Several thousand video conferencing systems where companies discuss sensitive matters have been found vulnerable to eavesdropping and espionage, according to researchers.

HD Moore took some time himself, going through tours of meeting rooms and fiddling around with video conferencing systems' hardware and software. He concluded that many companies are in danger because of negligence of their security settings. He says that many of the video conferencing systems he had a look at have a "naked" presence on the Internet.

Moore whipped out his toolbox and set his scope on any hardware that uses the H.323 protocol on the Internet. H.323 protocol is used by most conferencing equipment. His results showed that two percent of video conferencing systems had vulnerabilities that hackers could exploit, particularly because companies left the "auto-answer" setting on, allowing any incoming call to snoop in without soliciting an entry into the conference. On top of that, the systems were not even behind a firewall.

Looking at the big picture -- the entire Internet -- Moore believes that over 150 thousand systems can be eavesdropped with minimal effort, tapping into the system's microphone and camera. Since the camera moves by remote control, the hacker can control the camera and look at private things in participants' computers.

CEO of Rapid7, Mike Tuchen, said, "You see these nicely-appointed conference rooms where they're having their most important conversations. Often, where video conferencing equipment gets located are the same places where the most sensitive meetings take place.” Tuchen says that the simplest method to increasing security in your video conferencing system involves simply disabling the auto-answer feature.

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