As many of us continue to use Microsoft Teams as part of hybrid working, it’s important that we’re clear on how we can keep personal data secure when using it to communicate with colleagues, students and those external to UoN.

Here are five points to consider when using Microsoft Teams from our Data Protection Officer, Tracy Landon.

1. Consider what you write on Teams messages – Microsoft Teams messages, just like email, are disclosable via data protection legislation. Consider what you write in messages and how you correspond with colleagues using Teams.
2. When hosting meetings or sharing your screen, consider privacy – for example, make sure that you set yourself as ‘do not disturb’ on Teams so that notifications are not visible to others when you are sharing, or turn off your notifications.
3. Get consent before recording meetings – if you want to record a meeting make sure that the attendees are aware that you are recording – you must tell individuals why you are recording and what the recording will be used for.
4. Teams chat is not email – consider which medium is best for the discussion/message that you are sending. Long messages can get lost in Teams so consider if that message is best placed by using email.
5. Set up an anonymous meeting – consider if you need to set up your meeting as an anonymous meeting; this is useful when meeting with those external to UoN and ensures that attendees’ email addresses that are usually seen in an online meeting remain unknown.
   1. You can send to more than one attendee in the same email – remember to use the bcc field and not the cc field, particularly where you are using personal/non-UoN email addresses;
   2. Do not share a link to a meeting on social media.

Need to talk to us?

Email us at DPO@nottingham.ac.uk.

Need to report an incident?

Don’t be afraid to get in touch if something goes wrong – report to the Information Compliance Team so that we can help you mitigate the error. Remember we’re here to help.

Tracy Landon, Data Protection Officer