Your security and Zoom

There have been articles in the press about Zoom meetings that have been invaded by unwelcome guests. They are usually disrupted with foul and threatening language and posting of unwelcome content.

You may wonder if you join a Zoom meeting if you are likely to encounter the above. Maybe you worry about the general security around Zoom.

If the Zoom host follow easy guidelines it is unlikely that such an incident will incur in the meeting. They are:

• Do not publish the link, the meeting ID and the password to the meeting in a public forum like Twitter or Facebook.
• Create a waiting room for each meeting. That means nobody can join the meeting until the host verifies who it is that wants to join the meeting. In the unlikely event an unwanted guest slips in, they can be removed from the meeting to the waiting room and cannot disrupt a meeting further.
• Do not allow members to share information with others in the meeting until the host has verified that all members in a meeting are legitimate. In addition the host can specify what types of files can be shared.
• The host can limit the chat function to not allow messages to all users.

For all the Windward zoom meetings we follow these basic guidelines to limit the likelihood of unwelcome guests.

Is your personal information safe? When you signup for a Zoom account you need to secure it with a username and password. As long as you keep that information safe and practice good internet safety your information should be secure.

Guideline for internet safety