NetMeeting gives you the ability to decide whether you want your meetings and calls to be non-secure or secure. NetMeeting places non-secure calls by default. A secure NetMeeting call can encrypt the data, authenticate meeting participants using authentication certificates, and have password protection.
When you exchange data during a secure call or meeting, the data is encrypted so only the intended recipients can read it. NetMeeting provides a privacy certificate, allowing the information to be encrypted when it is sent, and then deciphered on the recipient's computer.
Authentication is verifying that the person with whom you are communicating is who you think it is. The most common method of authentication is by using certificates.
An authentication certificate is a set of data that identifies a person. A trusted organization, or entity, known as the Certificate Authority, issues the certificate after verifying the person's identity. Authentication certificates can also be used to encrypt information, ensuring the sender and receiver use the same encryption key.
Secure calls are data only. In a secure call you can use Chat and Whiteboard, share programs, and transfer files, but you cannot use audio or video because these transmissions are not encrypted. There cannot be both secure and non-secure calls in a meeting. All calls must be one or the other.
You can also use a password to protect the confidentiality of your online meetings. When you schedule a meeting, select a password and provide it to the other participants. When the meeting starts, each user provides the password to join. Password protection provides a convenient and easy way to monitor meeting attendance.