Secure Your Microsoft Teams Webinars

This article explains how to securely set up and run a Microsoft Teams webinar by using registration controls, meeting options (like lobby and presenter restrictions), moderated Q&A/chat settings, and (when available) higher-security features such as join verification checks and watermarking. It’s good to do this because webinars are common targets for unwanted attendees, disruptive behavior, and unauthorized recording or redistribution—so applying these settings helps protect speakers and parti

Quick Links: | Article Summary | Prerequisites | Configure Security Before Your Teams Webinar | Monitor and Control Your Live Session | Additional Precautions for Higher-Risk Webinars | Respond If Your Content Is Recorded or Redistributed | Troubleshooting |

Article Summary  

Third-party services and automated tools can attempt to join and record online events without the host’s knowledge. This article explains how to configure a Microsoft Teams webinar to reduce unauthorized access and discourage recording and redistribution. Steps are organized into pre-event setup, live-session controls, and additional precautions for higher-risk events. (This Teams version is based on the same approach used in our Zoom webinar guidance.)

Prerequisites  

1. You have access to schedule a Teams webinar in your Microsoft 365 account (some features depend on licensing and admin policy).
2. You are the organizer (or have organizer access) for the webinar you are configuring.
3. You have basic familiarity with scheduling in the Teams calendar (or Outlook).

Configure Security Before Your Teams Webinar  

Use these settings to reduce unauthorized access before your webinar begins.

1) Require registration and control who can register

1. In Teams, open Calendar, locate your webinar, and open it.
2. Select Details (or Setup > Details)
3. Scroll down to Event access and limit to "Your organization" if appropriate.
4. Ensure Allow sharing to social media from event site is off.
5. Select Registration (or Registration > Configuration).
6. Confirm registration is enabled and configure it:
   • Set an event capacity (limit registrations to the number you can support).
   • Use the appropriate registration scope for your audience (for example, restricting registration to your organization when the event should be internal-only). 
7. Avoid reusing old webinar events/links. Create a new webinar rather than copying forward an older one (old links may have been shared or redistributed).

2) Configure Meeting options (lobby and presenter restrictions)

1. Open the webinar and select Meeting options from the top of the Details (or Setup > Details) dialog.
2. Set Who can bypass the lobby to the most restrictive option that still supports your event (for example, only organizers/presenters). This forces unknown or external participants to wait in the lobby until admitted.
3. Set Who can present to Specific people (or the smallest group needed). This helps prevent untrusted attendees from sharing content, muting others, or taking other presenter actions.
4. Set Who has access to the cording or transcript to an appropriate audience like "Organizer and co-organizers."
5. If your webinar is not intended to be interactive, keep attendee audio/video off by default and only enable what you need.

3) Plan your “controlled sharing” approach

1. Only distribute the webinar registration link through controlled channels (targeted email lists, Canvas course announcements, department pages behind authentication).
2. Do not post join/registration links on public social media unless the event is intentionally public and you understand the tradeoffs.

Monitor and Control Your Live Session  

Once your webinar is underway, ongoing monitoring is critical.

1. Review registrants before the event and look for suspicious patterns (unknown names, unusual domains, clearly fake entries). (If you are running a high-risk webinar, consider approving registrants manually if that option is available in your workflow.) 
2. Use the lobby: admit only expected participants and deny/remove anyone suspicious.
3. Assign at least one co-organizer or moderator whose job is to monitor attendees, manage Q&A, and watch for disruptions while the presenter focuses on content.
4. Use Q&A for structured questions (instead of open meeting chat) to reduce noise and improve moderation:
   • Enable Q&A in Meeting options when creating/updating the webinar. 
   • Moderate questions when appropriate (especially for large or sensitive events). 
5. Lock down chat if needed: if you don’t need attendee chat, set meeting chat to a restrictive mode (for example, in-meeting only or disabled) based on your event plan and available settings/policy.

Additional Precautions for Higher-Risk Webinars  

For events involving research, sensitive topics, confidential discussions, or high-profile speakers, use these additional controls.

Share recordings only through authenticated channels

1. If you plan to distribute a recording, share it only through access-controlled, authenticated channels (for example, a system that requires sign-in) rather than posting publicly.
2. Limit who can access and download the recording according to the sensitivity of the content.

Respond If Your Content Is Recorded or Redistributed  

1. Do not engage directly with the third-party service or suspicious emails promoting your “available recording.”
2. Preserve evidence: save emails, links, screenshots, and timestamps.
3. Report the incident internally using you TeamDynamix

Troubleshooting  

External guest speakers can’t join

1. Confirm your registration scope and meeting options allow external participation if your event includes non-Chico State presenters/attendees.
2. If you originally created the webinar as “organization only,” you may need to recreate the webinar to change the audience/registration scope (some settings can be locked after creation).

Attendee management feels noisy (too many questions or chat disruptions)

1. Enable and moderate Q&A so questions flow through a controlled channel.
2. Restrict meeting chat (or disable it) if it isn’t needed for your event format.
3. Assign a dedicated moderator/co-organizer to manage Q&A and attendee issues.

 Still need help? Contact ITSS (x4357) or a open a ticket for further troubleshooting.
  
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