Zoom, the video & web conferencing solution, has become the de-facto service of choice for working remotely and staying in touch with loved ones during the stay-at-home orders taking place across the country. As with any rapidly adopted service, however, some folks want to rain on the parade.
According to the New York Times, there have been some reports of bad actors entering publicly available Zoom meetings and sharing inappropriate content. This is due to public meetings having the ability to share screens enabled for everyone by default. While these issues are happening mostly to open meetings with links shared via social media or other public means, there are still steps you can take to make sure that your events go the way you plan.
To access Zoom Screen Sharing settings:
- Click the My Account link in the top right-hand corner of the site after logging in.
- Select Settings in the left-hand sidebar.
- Scroll down the page until you see the Screen Sharing section. To prevent anyone but yourself from sharing screens, select the Host Only option and Save.
Once you schedule a meeting, just make sure you send the invitation to trusted individuals and don’t share the link to public platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
Also, if you want even more security for a publicly shared Zoom meeting, you can password-protect the event, so only those you have provided the password to can join the session. Another option is to have users register for your public meeting. This will also help to deter those bad actors.
As always, if you have any questions regarding your Zoom experience, let the IT Help Desk know!
UPDATED March 25, 2020, 5:18 p.m. CST: Clarification that the information is only for publicly shared meetings.
