Reminder

Preventing Zoombombing

"Zoombombing" occurs when hackers infiltrate a non-secure Zoom meeting and cause disruptions, often in graphic and upsetting ways for organizers and participants. Please see below for tips on protecting virtual events, programs, and classrooms.

• Change your settings so that only you can share your screen.
  • Most Zoombombing occurs when others take control of the screenshare function. Before hosting a meeting, log into your Zoom settings, scroll to “Screen sharing” and mark “Host only” under “Who can share?”
• Use an automatically generated meeting ID.
  • Use an automatically generated meeting ID instead of your personal meeting ID. When scheduling a meeting, go to “Meeting ID” and choose “Generate automatically.”
• Do not share your meeting ID publicly.
  • Ask that all meeting attendees keep your meeting ID private. When meeting IDs are public, anyone can join your meeting.
• Add a password to your meeting.
  • Adding a password ensures that only invited attendees can join, even if the meeting ID is public. When scheduling a meeting, check the “Require meeting password” box to automatically assign a password to your meetings, which will be included in the Zoom invite.
• Enable the “Waiting Room” feature.
  • The “Waiting Room” feature allows the host to decide whether any user, even an invited attendee, can join the meeting at any time. Visit your Zoom settings and scroll to “Waiting Room” to enable.
• Enable “Identify guest participants in the meeting/webinar”.
  • This can be acheived in Settings, and will add an identifying orange banner to usernames of attendees who were not invited by the host.
• Lock an in-progress Zoom meeting.
  • Locking a meeting prevents new participants from joining, even with a meeting ID and password. Click the “More” dropdown menu and then “Lock Meeting.
• Know how to quickly remove users.
  • Remove users by hovering your cursor over their name, then click the “More” dropdown menu and “Remove.”
• Disable file transfers.
  • Turn off file transfer to prevent attendees from uploading anything to the in-meeting text-based chat function. Visit your Zoom settings and scroll to “File Transfer” to disable.

The UM Bias Education and Response Team can offer support for those who experience or witness Zoombombing or other acts of bias. More information about BERT is available at dce.olemis.edu/bert

For more information or resources related to remote teaching, Zoombombing, or general IT questions, please call or email UM's IT Help Desk for support:

(622) 915-5222 or helpdesk@olemiss.edu