Due to the current situation, employees find themselves working from home, and students are finding themselves attending class online. Zoom has become the go-to method of video and audio communication among employees, students, teachers, etc. because they are able to access Zoom on almost any device from anywhere, anytime. With Zoom comes a new trend, Zoom Bombing. Zoom Bombing occurs when uninvited guests, otherwise known as hijackers, guess the correct URL or meeting id for a public Zoom session, giving them access to the feed/meeting. These hijackers cause disruptions by releasing personal information or simply yelling profanities in the meeting. This new trend has people asking how to prevent zoom bombing from happening. (As recommended by the Better Business Bureau)
One of the easiest ways to prevent Zoom bombing from happening to you is to require a password to join your meeting. Requiring a password provides extra security against hijackers because not only would they have to guess the correct URL/meeting id, but they would have to guess the correct password as well, which is unlikely to happen. Whenever you create a Zoom meeting, you are required to either create an id for the meeting or generate a random id. Generating a random id will always give you the more unique and secure id, but creating your own id will work as well, as long you… Another trend that has come with Zoom is taking a screenshot of your Zoom meeting and sharing it on a social media website. This makes your meeting EXTREMELY public and allows for hijackers to get in much easier. If the meeting is private, keep it private. This is also a simple yet effective way to keep the hijackers out is to only allow the host(s) to share their screen. Giving anyone in a Zoom meeting the ability to take control of the screen is an easy way for guests, whether invited or uninvited, to share unwanted content. A Zoom waiting room works just like any other waiting room. A waiting room stops guests from joining the meeting until the host(s) is ready for them to join. It’s a way to make sure that no uninvited guests are waiting to get into the meeting, kind of like a bouncer at a club. An invite-only meeting is just like it sounds. Nobody can enter this meeting unless they have been invited by the host(s). Nobody likes it when an uninvited guest shows up to a party, so don’t allow it to happen here either. Once the meeting starts, the host has an option to lock it. Locking your zoom meeting will not allow any new members to join the meeting, even if they have the correct id and password. It’s better to be safe than sorry when locking your car or the doors in your house, so do the same with your Zoom meeting. Anytime someone in your meeting is being disruptive or distracting other attendees, just remove them from the meeting. If you remove someone from the meeting, they are not allowed to rejoin. Assuming this is an option, hosts are allowed to disable the camera of any and all members of the meeting. This will allow any unwanted, inappropriate gesture to be blocked for everyone in the group. Once in a meeting, if file transfer is not turned off, it is common for hijackers to spam the chat with memes, GIF’s, and inappropriate language/photos. Turning this setting off will stop each and every one of those things from happening before it even happens. Now that you have learned 10 EASY ways to prevent Zoom bombing from happening in your next or all future Zoom meetings, take action. Zoom bombing may seem harmless, but people are having to get used to working and going to school remotely and need each and every minute to learn and concentrate on their work without any disruptions.
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