Zoom: Meeting Security
Security for Zoom Meetings
Passcodes
All Zoom meetings are passcode-protected by default. Zoom will automatically create a passcode for you, which you can choose to edit when you are creating the meeting. This is shown in the image below.
If you have already created a meeting and want to edit the passcode, you can do so from the Zoom app or website.
From the App
- Click Meetings from the options along the top of the app window.
- Select the meeting which contains the password you want to change, then click Edit from the options below the meeting's information.
- From the "Edit Meeting" pop-up window, below the Meeting ID section you will find the Security section. Here you will want to ensure there is a check mark before "Passcode." Then click in the field to the right of this that contains the current passcode to edit it.
- After editing the passcode, click the blue Save button on the lower right of the Edit Meeting window.
From the Zoom Website
- From illinois.zoom.us, click Meetings in the left sidebar then hover over the link to the scheduled meeting that you need to edit the passcode for. When you hover over it, it will turn blue and the option to edit will appear to the right.
- Click Edit from the options.
- This will take you to the settings of your meeting. Scroll down to the "Security" section. Ensure there is a check box in front of "Passcode," then click in the text box next to it where you can enter your new meeting passcode.
- Click the blue Save button in the lower left.
When you are in a meeting, you can locate the passcode at any time by clicking the green shield icon in the top left corner. This opens a window that contains the meeting details.
Registration
One security feature of Zoom is to require participants to register for a meeting before they join.
This setting prevents unwanted people who find the Meeting ID from entering, but does not prevent them if they are able to find a link to the meeting. The link will give them the option to register.
Please note that this is an optional security setting, available to you if you choose to use it. To enable this setting, follow the steps below.
- Log into Zoom through illinois.zoom.us, then click Meetings on the left side menu.
- Click the blue + Schedule a Meeting button.
- Scroll down to the "Registration" section. Click the checkbox next to "Required."
- Click the blue Save button in the lower left corner at the bottom of the page.
- After you click Save, the next page will have a "Registration Link" to provide your participants. When a participant clicks on the link, they will see this screen that allows them to register:
If they are already logged into Zoom, the information may auto-fill for them, but they may need to manually type it in. Once they have done this, they will receive a confirmation email with a link to join the meeting.
Additional Security Options
Security Settings within Zoom
By default, participants will not be able to share their screen. To allow them to share, click Host tools in the meeting controls and select "Allow all participants to: Share screen."
You can also select Lock meeting to prevent others from joining once everybody is in, or Enable waiting room to deposit new participants into a waiting room before admitting them. Some of the other security options in this menu include disabling Chat (by clicking Chat to remove the check mark in front of it), and choosing whether you want participants to be able to rename and unmute themselves.
You can also edit the sharing options in your Zoom account settings.
If a participant is disturbing the meeting, you can choose to mute them or disable their video. To mute, click Participants in the meeting controls, hover over the participant's name, and click Mute. To stop their video, click More and then Stop Video next to their name.
Waiting Room
The Waiting Room is another optional security option that allows you to decide who to let into your meeting. If you use this feature, you will need to admit each participant manually for each meeting. This is a good alternative to having a passcode for a public meeting, but you will need to have someone monitor the waiting room in order to admit participants.
You can enable this when you are scheduling your meeting or while in a meeting.
Zoom allows hosts to control when students join the class meeting. You can either let students immediately join the class when they log in, or hold all the students in the waiting room and admit them all at once. If you have enabled the waiting room feature, students will see a screen similar to this:
The text will reflect the name of your class sessions.
We do not recommend enabling this feature for online classes. The waiting room feature can cause students to incorrectly assume that they are having issues getting into class. When you begin setting up your class sessions, we recommend you Allow participants to join anytime to allow students to enter the classroom as they log in.
Read more about Zoom's waiting room here.
Only Allowing Authenticated Users to Join
You can also choose to only allow access to authenticated users. This means that users will have to be logged into Zoom before they can join. We do not recommend this option because it can complicate the process of joining the meeting for participants, but it is available to you. You can enable this when you are scheduling your meetings and edit it after scheduling (if needed).
For more information about securing your meeting, please visit this page about How to protect your Zoom sessions from Technology Services.