There are reports both internally at UCSF and in the media of increased attempts to interrupt Zoom meetings for nefarious purposes. Below are recommendations to increase the privacy of your Zoom meetings. Also, UCSF IT is in direct contact with Zoom regarding reported privacy and security issues, so we have solid facts and can take informed action. We are deploying the latest software updates and reviewing our enterprise Zoom settings to ensure we continue to provide a HIPAA- compliant service that is highly usable.
Safeguard the privacy of your meetings. Get acquainted with Zoom’s options so you can choose the appropriate configuration for your meetings. For sensitive meetings, consider applying all of the following recommendations.
For the most part, these are the most effective ways of keeping interlopers out of your meeting:
Manage participants
- Use the Waiting Room to keep unwanted guests out. As the meeting organizer, you’ll have to admit people to the meeting as they attempt to join.
- Restrict screen sharing: Using the host controls at the bottom, click the arrow next to Share Screen and then click Advanced Sharing Options. Under “Who can share?”, choose Only Host and close the window. You can also lock the Screen Share by default for all your meetings in your web settings.
- Remove unwanted or disruptive participants: From the Participants menu, mouse over a participant’s name and several options will appear, including Remove. Click that to kick someone out of the meeting.
- Do not allow removed participants to rejoin: By default, when you do remove someone, they can’t rejoin the meeting.
- Put everyone on hold: You can put everyone else on hold, and the attendees’ video and audio connections will be disabled momentarily. Click on someone’s video thumbnail and select Start Attendee On Hold to activate this feature. Click Take Off Hold in the Participants list when you’re ready to have them back.
- Disable video: Hosts can turn someone’s video off. This will allow hosts to block unwanted, distracting or inappropriate gestures on video.
- Mute participants: Hosts can mute and unmute individual participants or all of them at once. Hosts can also block unwanted, distracting or inappropriate noise from other participants as well as enable Mute Upon Entry in their settings to keep the clamor at bay in large meetings.
For more tips on using Zoom security, visit https://zoom.us/security.
