With the recent swarm of attacks by Internet trolls on Zoom meetings due to the coronavirus pandemic (known as "Zoom Bombing"), you might be wondering how you can control who can join your meeting or webinar. By taking these steps, you can make sure that your Zoom meeting (or other meeting software) does not become subject to this kind of disastrous attack. [1] X Research source
Steps
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Stay up to date. Ensure that your Zoom client software and that your PC/Mac is running up to date software. The new software has security and bug fixes as well as new features. Using the older software could potentially expose you to unwanted threats, including viruses that can steal data and hijack meetings.
- To update your Zoom client, click on your profile in the upper right corner and select "Check for updates." Mandatory updates require that you install them before you continue using Zoom for security reasons. Optional updates have new features and are not required to get the best experience out of Zoom. [2] X Research source
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Set a password for your meeting. Many video call attacks occur when the meeting or webinar is open, meaning anyone can join. All it takes is a hacker or troll entering the 10-digit meeting ID to join a Zoom call. If the meeting is not password-protected, they will be able to join an unlimited number of times.
- To require passwords for every Zoom meeting, go to Zoom's account settings and select "Require a password when scheduling new meetings," "Require a password for instant meetings," "Require a password for Personal Meeting ID (PMI)," and "Require password for participants joining by phone." [3] X Research source
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Use the "Waiting room" feature. A "Waiting room" is a virtual room that all participants enter before joining the actual meeting (or before the meeting starts or after the meeting ends). With this feature enabled, you can allow certain participants to join the call while leaving unknown users waiting indefinitely. Become the host of the meeting, go to your Zoom's security toolbar, and checkmark "Enable waiting room." With this on, you'll be notified every time new individuals step upon your room and want to gain access. You can control whether guest (i.e. logged out) participants or all participants are placed in the waiting room from the same page. [4] X Research source
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Know how to boot a user from the meeting. A dismissed user cannot rejoin the meeting unless "Allow removed participants to rejoin" is enabled in Zoom's settings. For security reasons, keep this setting disabled to prevent trolls from rejoining. [5] X Research source
- To kick someone out of a meeting, click on your Zoom screen's "Participants" tab, find the perpetrator who you'd like to kick out - then click the "More" button on the right-hand side, then click "Remove." Once removed, they cannot rejoin.
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Lock the meeting. After everyone has joined, lock the meeting to stop additional users from joining. This will also stop trolls from joining. Be warned, though, that it may block legitimate users in your organization from joining the meeting.
- To lock the meeting, click on "Lock Meeting" in the security tab. Users already logged into the meeting can still leave, but users who are not by the time the meeting is locked cannot join. [5] X Research source
- If the meeting reaches the number of people needed, the host has the option of lock the session to prevent any unwanted individual from entering the meeting. To do this, click on the "Security" toolbar on your Zoom window.
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Disable screen and/or video sharing, chat, renaming, and annotations. To prevent users from misusing Zoom's features for trolling, disable the use of screen sharing, chat, renaming, and annotations. That way, only you (the host) can use these features. You can do all of this under the "Security" tab. [5] X Research source
- You can always reenable each feature if the need arises (for group presentations).
- Disable the person's video feed to prevent specific individuals from causing chaos that could be distracting their peers. As a host, mute, or disable that person's video that is distracting his/her peers by clicking "more" then "Stop video."
- Disable screen sharing if what an attendee is sharing is distracting and ensuring that only the host has the ability to screen share. Click on Zoom's "Security" tab, then click "Screen sharing." Once enabled (rechecked), participants can no longer share their own screens unless they get approval from you to do so.
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Know how to mute everyone at once. To mute everyone, go to "Manage participants," then choose "Mute all." This will mute everyone in the conference at the same time. You can also uncheck the box "Allow participants to unmute themselves" to prevent interruptions until it becomes necessary to speak. [6] X Research sourceAdvertisement
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Tips
- If you are an organization administrator, you can control and lock settings for your organization's members.Thanks
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Warnings
- There is no guarantee that your meeting will be safe, regardless of whether you use Zoom or another program. The best way to ensure meeting security is to follow basic security advice, including setting strong passwords, using unlisted/private settings, and avoiding programs that allow logged-out use.Thanks
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References
- ↑ https://zoom.us/security
- ↑ https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362233-Where-Do-I-Download-The-Latest-Version-
- ↑ https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360033559832-Meeting-and-webinar-passwords
- ↑ https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115000332726-Waiting-Room
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360041848151-In-meeting-security-options
- ↑ https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/203435537-Mute-All-And-Unmute-All
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