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Zoom video conferencing has become an invaluable tool for the Haverford community over the past year. With an increasing threat of Zoombombers (disruptive guests), it is extremely important to understand and utilize several features built into Zoom that allow you to secure your meetings from these unwanted visitors.
All Zoom meetings created by Haverford users are now required to be secured with one of the available security options: a passcode, waiting room, or “Require authentication to join.” All of these options are located under “security” when scheduling a new meeting. If no security option is enabled, Zoom will automatically secure the meeting with a waiting room. When “Require authentication to join” is selected, only users logged into their Haverford, Bryn Mawr or Swarthmore Zoom accounts will be permitted access.
By default, passcodes are embedded within the invite link, which means that only users joining via the meeting ID will need to enter the passcode. That said, it is very important not to share these links publicly (on a web page, public calendar or mailing list). Whenever you advertise a meeting or event publicly, we recommend turning on registration. With registration turned on, you’ll be able to monitor the registrants as they sign up.
We also encourage you to review these in-meeting security options which will help you manage difficult situations that could arise during a meeting. The security icon at the bottom of your Zoom window allows you to adjust several important settings throughout the meeting, so make sure that you are familiar with the options.
Screen Sharing and Annotation are two tools that Zoombombers use frequently to disrupt meetings. We have recently adjusted our settings globally so that any new meetings created within Haverford accounts will limit this functionality to the host. Permission to share a screen or annotate can be granted by the host when necessary.
IITS has made global adjustments to the default settings within our licensing that we believe limit the chances for disruption. Some of these settings cannot be changed by individual users, while many others can be adjusted to your liking. We encourage you to configure your personal settings in whatever way best suits your work, but ask that you remain vigilant. If you have any further questions about securing future meetings or events, please contact Service Desk. (itservicedesk@haverford.edu)