What Every Zoom User Needs to Know About Security

There have been a few media stories about Zoom videoconferencing software that have been reporting on uninvited people joining videoconferences and disrupting the meetings with offensive images and sound.

This kind of abuse should be taken very seriously, and every Zoom meeting or webinar host needs to ensure that they are setting up videoconferences with proper security measures in place to prevent this phenomenon, known as “Zoom-bombing.”

The good news is that Zoom-bombing can be prevented with a few clicks. As PC Magazine columnist Jill Duffy noted in a recent issue, “The best way to stop Zoom-bombing is to prevent it in the first place.”

I have trained hundreds of people how to use Zoom effectively, and my workshop has been updated to teach everyone how to follow best-practices when it comes to making their Zoom videoconferences a productive and safe space.

This begins with taking steps such as ensuring meetings are password-protected, that participants are not granted power to share their screens. We cover these steps in our workshops, and you can read more in Duffy’s PC Magazine article.

It’s time now to be more vigilant, while ensuring that everyone can still participate.

Media reports have pointed out anther shortcoming involving the level of encryption used by the platform. I have no reason to think this is not the case, but I always use judgment when using Internet technology. As long as I am not reading out credit card numbers over the video call, I think I am probably going to be OK.

Zoom is being targeted by these “trolls” out there on the Internet because of the platform’s amazing popularity and widespread use. It’s as an easy, affordable, and remarkably stable platform to bring multiple people together online (better video quality than Skype, and more accessible than Facetime), and in the age of COVID-19 and social distancing, Zoom is a hit.

When people ask me about concerns surrounding Zoom, my advice is this: if a better videoconferencing  system comes along, by all means use it. But until then, be proactive, and take positive steps such as using passwords, and be sure you are confident enough with the technology to make your video conferencing rewarding, productive, fun, and above-all, safe.

Steve Staples is the founder of Public Response and has been leading digital community engagement campaigns since 2003.