Zoom Security

ARTICLE SUMMARY

This article contains a variety of tips you can employ to help keep your Zoom meeting secure. 

CONTENTS

Meeting ID and Password

Provide Meeting Password Separate from Meeting

Worship Service Live Stream Zoom

Enable the Waiting Room Feature

Disable Screensharing for Participants

Disable Participants Annotation Feature

Meeting Preregistration

Host Features

Disable Chat Feature

Zoom Webinar

Meeting ID and Password

Always ensure any meeting you book auto generates the meeting ID and that your meeting has a password. These settings are set when the meeting is booked.

Provide Meeting Password Separate from Meeting

When possible, do not make a meeting link public (newsletter, website, etc.). If you have to make it public be default, Zoom will embed the meeting password in the meeting link. When possible, do not embed the password in the link, instead, provide participants the password via email or upon request.

You can change your setting so the password is not embedded in the link generated, or you can manually strip the password from an existing link.

In settings under "Schedule Meeting," disable the following:

Or strip your password from the link. This will force people to have to type in the password on entry.

This is an example of a link with the password embedded:

https://zoom.us/j/123456789?pwd=dkZNSkZRdkNBeUZUeWVLd2VJNUhxQT09

This is the same link without the password embedded. Notice how everything after the meeting number is omitted. Attendees with be prompted to enter the password when joining the meeting.

https://zoom.us/j/123456789

Worship Service Live Stream Zoom

One way to improve security is to only allow people required for the ecumenical service to join your Zoom meeting; all other participants would only watch the live stream via Facebook, YouTube, or other live streaming platform.

During the meeting, you can start you live stream (to the platform of your choice) by clicking on the "more" button on your control bar.

You will need to provide your participants with a link to your Facebook Live videos or your YouTube channel so they can watch the live stream, or watch the recording of the service that will stay posted on Facebook or YouTube.

Enable the Waiting Room Feature

When booking a meeting, make use of the waiting room feature when possible. When participants join the meeting, they are placed in a waiting room and the Host is notified of their presence and must approve them before they are let into the meeting.

It is important to note that you can't use this feature when you have "Join before host" enabled. 

Instruct your participants to use their full name when they are prompted to join the waiting room, so the Host is able to identify participants they are expecting.

You can enable the waiting room when booking the meeting with the following setting:

Disable Screensharing for Participants

Only allow the host to be able to share their screen and when needed intentionally allow people to share their screen. To do this, they will be make co-host for that moment.

You can ensure this is done by default by changing this setting in "Meeting (Basics):"

Disable Participants Annotation Feature

Confirm that you have annotation disabled in this setting in "Meeting (Basics)." This will ensure someone isn't able to add drawings or text to a shared image by the host.

Meeting Preregistration

You can establish that participants must register before hand. To do this, just confirm that the following setting is checked when booking a meeting:

When registration is selected, you will be provided a Registration link that must be given to participants so they can preregister. Only participants that preregistered are allowed to attend the meeting. When you need to have total control of who can join a meeting, having this two-step process in place when possible is necessary.

Host Features

It is important to note that the Host of a meeting can disable participants' video by clicking on the PARTICIPANTS button in the Control Bar. In the PARTICIPANTS dialog panel, beside each persons' name you will have the ability to disable audio and video. If  you use the waiting room feature, as people are approved to join the main meeting, you can disable the video for all participants for the entire meeting or until you confirm their identity.

A Host can also kick out a participant from the meeting. When a participant is removed from the meeting, they are unable to rejoin.

Disable Chat Feature

If your meeting doesn't require the chat feature, you can disable it by going into setting under "Meeting (Basics)."

Zoom Webinar

For an additional charge, Zoom offers a Webinar service. Webinars are tailored for larger groups and the focus is given to the Host, Co-Hosts, and Panelist. By default, participants in a webinar do not share audio or video, and they also cannot see or interact with other participants. Additionally, they don't have access to the list of participants and they can only interact with the Hosts or Panelists. The interaction limitation will makes Webinars more secure than a regular Zoom meeting.