Zoom Meeting Security

We've had a few inquiries from users who want to know how they can prevent disruption of their Zoom meetings by unauthorized visitors (sometimes referred to as "Zoombombing"), so we thought we'd share some simple tips to help everyone make informed decisions about how to set up your online meetings to be appropriately functional and secure.

  1. Remember that security and usability are in tension with one another.  The easier it is to access a meeting, the less secure it is and more prone to possible disruption. On the other hand, a super-secure meeting may run well but some would-be attendees may have difficulty accessing the meeting. Only you, as the event organizer, can accurately assess the right balance to set between these two competing interests (ease of use vs security), which will impact the decisions you make in the other items listed below.
  2. Two factors will play important roles in setting up your meeting:
    1. Will your attendees be largely internal (primarily Dartmouth or DH) or external?
    2. Will the meeting be one or few to many type of presentation or an actual group meeting?
  3. Consider using a webinar rather than a meeting for larger or high-profile events. Webinars are designed to allow a small group of presenters to present content to the viewers.  Viewers cannot hijack the screensharing in the meeting, turn on their microphones, or similarly disrupt the event.  Moderated chat can be used to allow attendees a level of interaction with the presenters while ensuring that unwelcome comments/content cannot reach the audience in general.
  4. If you decide that a meeting is the appropriate format that allows you to meet your goals for this event:
    1. We recommend against publishing meeting links on a public website or distribute it to a large email list without requiring NetID authentication, enabling meeting waiting rooms, or using sign-up forms to request meeting details. Once meeting details are posted in this way, you lose all control over how far they are spread. These options may be more labor-intensive but will greatly lower your risk of disruption.
    2. Designate multiple meeting co-hosts to ensure that multiple people can react to any problems that arise in the meeting and that the meeting is not unmanaged if the primary host is not able to attend for some last-minute reason.
    3. Make sure the hosts familiarize themselves with the meeting controls before the actual event.  If there is a problem, knowing how to quickly remove bad actors, mute all participants, and take other aspects of control will be crucial. Finding these controls under stress will be difficult if you haven't already experimented with them.
  5. Lastly, hold practice sessions prior to your actual event to allow you time to explore the meeting controls and verify that any settings you've established are working as designed.

Dartmouth College has published this article which contains additional information though, at the time we're adding this link, it's not been updated in two years (2022).

Print Article