Zoom has been drawing a lot of attention from journalists and researchers lately for a wide range of possible security and privacy problems, as use of the software surges due to an increase in remote workers. One of Zoom’s largest security matters is the dramatic sureness in “Zoombombing” when uninvited participants break into and disrupt the meeting.
Similarly, rumours surrounding security risks have spread around other video-conferencing services. Some even indicted video-calling app Houseparty of enabling Netflix accounts hacks with poor security protocols. In turn, the organisation has proposed a $1 million reward for evidence of security obstruction against what others claim a viral misinformation crusade. As of the rest of you, still working from there are some easy setting you can change before your Zoom conference begins:
- Do not use your Personal Meeting ID for the conference. Instead, use a per-meeting ID, that you can use it solely to a single meeting. The platform’s support page offers easy to follow video walk-through on how to generate a random meeting ID for more security.
- Don’t skip the” Waiting Room” – this feature will help you see who is attempting to join your meeting before allowing them access. All in all, like most privacy features, a clever disrupter can sometimes bypass this control, but it helps to put another obstacle in their path to chaos. Zoom provides a support article here as well.
- Make sure options like Join Before Host are disabled ( this should be displayed by default, but you should check to be sure). Then deactivate the screen – sharing feature for nonhosts, the remote-control feature as well. Ultimately, make sure you’ve disabled all the annotations, fille transferring and the autosave features for chats. To deactivate most of these features, select the gear-shaped Settings icon on the upper-right side of the window after you’ve logged in.
- When the meeting begins and everyone is in, ensure you secure the meeting to outsiders ( a VPN for Zoom may also prove effective for security and anonymity ) and designate at least two meeting co-hosts. Your co-hosts will be able to better control the situation in case everyone dodges your efforts and gets Zoombombs at your meeting.
Report Zoombombing
Zoombombing happens when an uninvited participant enters a Zoom session to cause interruption. Sometimes this interruption takes the form of hate speech, profanity, or pornography. Sometimes these interruptions or disruptions even include threats. If you ever experience threat during a Zoom meeting, please notify the UC police and don’t forget to include the following information:
- The meeting ID of the session that was interrupted
- A summary of what happened
- The date and time of the accident
- What action was taken (e.g., was the intruder remover or the conference halted)
- Specify whether or not the meeting was recorded.
What’s the best you can do to avoid a potential Zoombombing? Try to become familiar with Zoom settings, and they will affect your session.
