Support Page Content
Zoom Security
Zoom is a staple software tool connecting us all in our hybrid and virtual structure. But there are also drawbacks including risks to security and privacy within Zoom sessions.
Zoombombing
Zoombombing is a malicious attack where people enter live Zoom sessions (whether University participants or 3rd parties) to spew racist, misogynistic, or vulgar content. Although we have had very few reported Zoombombing incidents at Sacramento State, we also know that we are not immune to them, as well as other potential misconduct by meeting participants. Following these empowering best practices can help you manage your Zoom sessions confidently.
Reporting a Zoombombing Incident
Email the Office for Equal Opportunity (OEO) and include:
- Name and email address
- Date and time of the incident
- Description of what happened in as much detail as possible
- Zoom link and meeting ID number, if applicable
- Course name/ID, if applicable
Security Strategies
For Meeting Attendees
- Protect and do not share your Zoom session link with anyone not intended to participate.
For Meeting Hosts
- Enable the Waiting Room Feature. This feature allows you to control who enters the room, and can be enabled per meeting, or for your entire account. First, be sure you've disabled "Join before Host." Don't recognize a participant name? Consider not admitting them in your room. You can also establish a greeting to welcome participants to the waiting room.
- Set a password. You can enable a password that participants must enter to get into your Zoom session. When you enable this option, a random password is created, but you can also modify it. You'll provide the session password to your participants, and be sure to tell them not to share this information with anyone outside of your meeting.
- Manage participants. You can mute/unmute participants entirely, or one-by-one. You can put a participant on hold by hovering over their name and choosing “More – Put on Hold.” This temporarily removes them from a meeting until you allow them back in. Need to remove a participant? Hover over/right-click their name and choose “remove.” By default, they are not allowed back into the meeting room (If you accidentally remove someone, you can toggle this setting off to allow them back in).
- Screensharing settings. Zoom's new default is 'host only,' but you can manage screensharing settings to allow your participants to share their video, screen, and audio.
- Annotation settings. You can disable/enable whether meeting participants can annotate on a shared screen or a whiteboard.