I've become a BIG FAN of Zoom for virtual client meetings and presentations. It's easy to use, very intuitive, and powerful as a remote/virtual meeting platform. Hackers have taken advantage of Zoom's surge in popularity during our current "work from home" mandate period. Recent social media postings mention Zoom security vulnerabilities, particularly situations where hackers have joined Zoom meetings as uninvited guests and "behaved badly" -- posting completely inappropriate and embarrassing pictures, videos and comments; "taking over" the meeting controls from the presenter; and other similar disruptive behaviors. If you Google "Zoom security issues," you'll see some examples of this.
That said ... Zoom has addressed and is addressing the vulnerabilities, but there are FOUR THINGS you can do as a meeting organizer and facilitator to mitigate security issues:
1 - Avoid using your personal meeting ID to host public events
Always select the "one-time meeting ID" or "generate automatically" in your settings
2 - Prevent participants from screen-sharing during a call
Click the arrow next to screen share and then advanced sharing options. Under "who can share?" select "only host"
3 - Select "only authenticated users can join" in your Zoom meeting settings
Choosing this option is useful for purposes of controlling your guest list
Invite only those you want in your meeting
This prevents someone from joining a meeting from an email that they were not invited through
4 - Select "enable waiting room" in your Zoom meeting settings
This allows you to screen who's trying to access your meeting and keep unwanted guests out
The "waiting room" is a virtual queue, and as a host, you can admit participants one by one, remove them, or admit the next person in any order you choose
How do I admit participants into my meeting?
It’s simple. As the host, once you’ve joined, you’ll begin to see the number of participants in your waiting room within the Manage Participants icon. Select Manage Participants to view the full list of participants, then, you’ll have the option to admit individually by selecting the blue Admit button or all at once with the Admit All option on the top right-hand side of your screen. For step-by-step instructions, please watch this 2-minute video.
Zoom is a stable and reliable platform, and as a facilitator, if you take care and follow the above recommendations when organizing your Zoom meetings, you'll continue to have safe and secure virtual meetings.
Zoom-based virtual meetings, and virtual meetings in general, will likely become a "new normal" coming out of our post-pandemic period. It's a great time to master this technology and become a power user now.
Have a great day!
Andy Robinson, Executive Coach
239-285-5575
Andy@AndyRobinson.Coach
"Helping CEO's and executives maximize their influence and impact."