Background | Configured at Mason | How to Prepare | How to Respond |

Securing Zoom Meetings & Classes

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many universities have moved to virtual instructional and working environments. However, with that move, there has been an increase in reported uninvited attendees showing up in meetings and classes to deliberately try to derail them-- these incidents are known as “Zoom-bombing” or “Zoom trolls.” The following information is meant to prevent disruption and help Mason faculty and staff effectively teach and work remotely.

See Zoom's Best Practices for Securing Your Virtual Classroom for videos and step-by-step instructions for maintaining a secure, productive online environment.

How Zoom is Configured at Mason

The following configurations of Zoom are in place at Mason with the intent to prevent uninvited guests and disruptions. An asterisk denotes this setting is "unlocked" and can be changed by the meeting host.
Available:
  • Require Mason authentication and email address of record (This option is available when scheduling a meeting)
Required:
  • Passcode when scheduling new meetings *
  • Passcode for instant meetings *
  • Passcode for webinars *
  • Passcode for participants joining by phone *

Enabled:

  • Host can enable waiting room
  • Host can add co-hosts *
  • Host can interrupt sharing when any participant is sharing; No one else can interrupt sharing by default *
  • Participant profile pictures in a meeting to be hidden *
  • Host can report participants to Zoom *
  • Guest participants in the meeting/webinar can be identified; In the participant list, "guest" appears next to the name of any attendee who does not belong to the Mason account *
  • Host notified when attendees join the meeting before the host *

Disabled:

  • "Join before host" as default setting *
  • Use of Personal Meeting ID (PMI) when scheduling a meeting; Prevents reuse of identical meeting ID *
  • Use of Personal Meeting ID (PMI) when starting an instant meeting; Prevents reuse of identical meeting ID *
  • Private chat; Disallows meeting participants to send a private 1:1 message to another participant *
  • Autosaving chats *
  • Remote control
  • Ability for removed participants to rejoin *
  • Far end camera control

Tips to Secure Your Meetings

Zoom has many built-in security features; here are some best practices for securing your virtual classroom and meetings:

Scheduling

Ensuring your meeting runs smoothly and without disruption can begin as early as when you are scheduling it. Consider the following when creating your meeting:

  • Keep “Join before host” disabled
  • Consider muting participants upon entry. Users may not be able to unmute themselves without host intervention dependent on Zoom application version installed by student/guest.
  • Require Only authenticated users can join: Zoom account must be a Mason email

Do Not Share the Meeting Link Publicly

Avoid posting your links in a public place like on a website or sharing via email. Zoom-bombing can occur when a meeting link has been shared publicly.

There are ways to make your link easily available to students enrolled in your class, but not so easily available to other people, including sharing the link in a password-protected course via Blackboard so it is only accessed by students.

Lock the Meeting

  • In the Zoom toolbar at the bottom of the Zoom window, click Participants
  • At the bottom of the Participants window, select More
  • Select Lock Meeting



Tip: Give participants a few minutes to file in before locking your meeting

Adjust Screen Share Options in the Meeting

Giving students the opportunity to share their work is a powerful feature of Zoom. By default, Zoom In-Meeting settings at Mason are set to only allow the host to share; however, if you would like participants to have the ability to share, simply adjust the settings.

Change Screen Share in Account Settings

  • Login at gmu.zoom.us
  • On the left, choose Settings
  • Select In-Meeting (Basic)
  • Scroll to Screen sharing

Change Screen Share in In-Meeting Settings

  • In the Zoom toolbar at the bottom of the Zoom window, select the caret next to Share Screen
  • Select Advanced Sharing Options


Mute All Participants

To avoid having unwanted voices speak at inappropriate times, follow these steps once you have started the meeting:

  • In the Zoom toolbar at the bottom of the Zoom window, select Participants 
  • At the bottom of the Participants window, select More
  • Choose Mute Participants on Entry
  • Deselect Allow Participants to Unmute Themselves


Tip: Stop at various points and ask participants if they have questions. Instruct them to use the Raise Hand feature to communicate to you that they’d like to speak. You will see a raised hand next to a participant’s name in the Participants window. Verbally call on the participant and manually unmute them.

Disable Attendee Annotation

In the Mason Zoom environment, Annotation is enabled, which means attendees are able to annotate on your shared screen at any time.

Change Annotation in Account Settings

  • Log in at gmu.zoom.us
  • On the left, choose Settings
  • Select In-Meeting Basic
  • Scroll to Annotation; If Annotation is enabled, that means attendees can annotate on your shared screen

Change Annotation in In-Meeting Settings

While this feature can be great for collaborative activities during meetings, you can easily deactivate the feature but only once you have begun sharing your screen.

  • Share your screen
  • Click More in the screen share controls
  • Select Disable participants annotation



Tip: If you wish to encourage students to annotate your shared screen, simply re-enable the feature by following the same steps.

Control Zoom Recordings

In the Mason Zoom environment, recordings are automatically added to Blackboard’s Kaltura integration. Add content via Kaltura/MyMedia/Course Media into your Blackboard course so that only your Blackboard students can view the recordings.

  • Upload to your course directly from Kaltura

If you wish to share a link to the Zoom recording hosted in the gmu.zoom.us cloud instead:

  • Choose Only authenticated users can view: Signed-in users in my account
  • Enable Passcode protection

How to Respond to a Zoom Bomber

If a disruptive or uninvited attendee appears in your meeting, focus on managing the situation, as opposed to engaging with the individual. Follow these suggestions:

Stop Unwanted Screen Sharing

Share your screen. You are the host, and you may take screen sharing over from attendees.

Stop Unwanted Webcam Video or Sound

  1. In the Zoom toolbar at the bottom of the Zoom window, click Participants
  2. Locate the person’s username (which will also be at the top of their video)
  3. To the right of their name, mute their webcam and/or microphone




Remove Someone from the Meeting

  1. Next to the person you want to remove, click More
  2. From the list that appears, click Remove




Tip: For an added layer of comfort, you may consider locking the meeting. However, doing this prevents your students from entering.

Last modified: October 1, 2020