When an application or service becomes popular, sooner rather than later there are those who want to take advantage of it. Zoom meetings have proliferated around the world to save distances and make teleworking easier. But if you don’t take certain precautions, your account can be exposed, someone can sneak into your meetings or there may be unpleasant and unforeseen situations.
Then we make a review of Zoom options that you should keep in mind from the field of privacy and security. They will avoid security problems in your meetings and thus you will have everything under control. And the best thing, you will avoid fraud and scams related to it online data theft.
End-to-end encryption in meetings
Let’s start at an essential point to protect access to Zoom meetings. In English it is known as end-to-end encryption (E2EE). In Spanish, point-to-point encryption, end-to-end encryption or point-to-point encryption. This security measures Add an extra layer to prevent someone from accessing your meetings without permission.
Individually, you can enable meetings with end-to-end encryption. You will have to go to Zoom web portal and there go to Settings> Meeting> Security and activate the option Allow the use of end-to-end encryption. It is also possible to activate this option if you are an administrator of an account or a group of users. You will find the option in the same path to enable this measure in all the users of the account or in a group of users.
In addition to to get better the access security to Zoom meetings, it automatically disables the ability to enter before the host, cloud recording or live transcription.
Zoom allows you to add new users to your meetings by providing them with a link. Something simple and comfortable. But that convenience can backfire if you share the link indiscriminately. The result, that your meetings are filled with unwanted visitors.
If you are organizing a private meeting, invite participants individually. Leave the option to share the link on social networks or other public sources for events in which you want to have an audience.
Deactivate your personal ID at public events
In this sense, it is also advisable to separate public meetings from private meetings. Zoom has a very useful option called Personal meeting ID used to start instant meetings with people you meet regularly. But if you spread that ID in public meetings, in the future you will receive unexpected visits.
You can Activate and deactivate the personal meeting ID from the Zoom web portal, entering Profile> Personal Meeting ID> Edit and checking or unchecking the option Use this ID for instant meetings. Finally, you will have to click on Save Changes.
Use the waiting room
An option similar to the previous one is the Waiting room by Zoom. It is a virtual space prior to the meeting itself and that serves, as its name indicates, to wait before the meeting itself. “As the host of the meeting, you can admit one by one to the assistants or refer them to a waiting room and admit them all at the same time ”.
With the waiting room you will avoid enter users without permission. You will decide who enters and who does not, in case someone intends to access a meeting to which they were not invited. You can activate the Waiting Room as a user, from the Zoom web portal, at Settings> Meeting> Security> Waiting room.
If you are an administrator of several accounts or groups, you will find the option in the same Zoom web portal under the menu Account / User Management> Account Settings / Group Management> Security> Waiting Room.
You can configure the Waiting Room so that everyone will go automatically or only one type of user. In addition, you can personalize the Room with a title, logo, description, etc.
Do not let in before you
If you turn on peer-to-peer encryption in your Zoom meetings, forget about this point. If not, when you create a meeting you can prevent other users enter before you. In Zoom’s words, “The feature of allowing participants to join before the host allows attendees join the meeting earlier when the host joins or when the host cannot attend the meeting ”.
When you schedule a meeting, in Edit this meeting> Meeting options you will see the function Allow participants to join before the start time. You can activate it or not. If you activate it, anyone who has been invited to the meeting will be able to access it before you. If you deactivate it, you will be the first to join the meeting.
Block and remove unwanted participants
If all of the above has not served to put in check unwanted visitors, you can always go to the tab Security of Zoom meetings. Once the meeting has started, you will see a series of icons with the most practical functions at the bottom of the screen. There is Security, which contains several options to avoid problems and control the meeting.
You can block the meeting once started so that no one else enters. It is the virtual equivalent of locking a meeting room when the chat has started. Anyone who is late will not be able to enter. From there you can also enable waiting room.
If there are participants who do not respect the rules and behave in a reprehensible way, you can do several things about it. For starters, you can turn off your audio, disable your video, prevent share screen… And finally, Remove participant to kick that user out of the Zoom meeting.