Zoom: Tools for securing meetings

Due to recent trends involving uninvited meeting attendees compromising Zoom sessions, you may want to consider securing meetings held in Zoom. In this video, I'll cover some of the settings in Zoom that will help you create more secure Zoom sessions.

For additional options available for securing your meetings, see Avoid Zoombombing using Zoom privacy and security features on the IU Knowledge Base.

Report instances of Zoombombing to the University Information Security Office (UISO) as described in the IU Knowledge Base article Report an incident.

Zoom: Securing your meetings

Updated 02-16-2021

Description of the video:

Due to recent trends involving uninvited meeting attendees compromising Zoom sessions,

you may want to consider securing meetings held in Zoom.

In this video, I'll cover some of the settings in Zoom that will help you create more secure Zoom sessions.

One way of securing your sessions involves requiring all participants to be logged into their Zoom account before accessing a meeting.

This means that anyone with a Zoom account can access your meeting once they're logged in.

While this doesn't restrict attendees to only IU participants, it can help restrict access to your Zoom meeting.

To enable the setting, you'll first want to go to zoom.iu.edu and log in with your IU account.

From here, in the navigation on the left side of the page, click on Meetings.

The Meetings page will load. 

Select a meeting to edit its settings. When the meeting details load, scroll to the bottom of the page and click Edit this meeting.  

In the meeting settings, scroll down to Meeting Options and check the box next to Only authenticated users can join.

Once the box is checked, "Sign into Zoom" will appear to the right of Only authenticated users can join.

Click Save to save your changes.

You can configure meeting rooms so that each participant's audio and video feeds are disabled when first joining. 

To do this, you'll first want to make sure you're logged into Zoom at IU. 

Once you're logged in, in the navigation on the left side of the page, click on Meetings.

From here, select a meeting to edit its settings.

When the meeting details load, scroll to the bottom of the page and click Edit this meeting.  


In the meeting settings, first, look for the Video section. 


To disable participant video when entering a meeting, to the right of Participant, click the radio button for Off.


Next, scroll down to Meeting Options, and check the box next to Mute participants upon entry.

Once you're done, click Save to save your changes.


In Zoom, you have the ability to enable a waiting room for each of your meeting rooms.


If you enable the waiting room, participants won't be able to join a meeting until you admit them individually. 


This option works well for smaller class sessions or meetings.

To enable the waiting room, you'll first want to make sure you're logged into Zoom at IU. 


Once you're logged in, in the navigation on the left side of the page, click on Meetings.


The Meetings page will load, and you'll want to select a meeting to edit its settings.


When the meeting details load, scroll to the bottom of the page and click Edit this meeting.  


In the Meeting Options section, check the box for Enable waiting room.


When you're done, click Save to save your changes.


Zoom provides an option to disable removed participants from re-entering meetings.


This can be helpful if an uninvited attendee arrives in your meeting and you need to remove them.


To check this setting, first, make sure you're logged into Zoom at IU.

Once you're logged in, in the navigation on the left side of the page, click on Settings.

In the Settings navigation, click on In Meeting (Basic). 


From here, scroll down until you see the setting Allow removed participants to rejoin and make sure the setting is toggled off.


If you need to toggle it off, Zoom will automatically save any changes you make.

For more information on other steps you can take to secure a Zoom meeting, go to kb.iu.edu/d/ativ.

Zoom has a wide variety of security tools that can help keep unwanted attendees from disrupting your meetings. In this video, I'll cover some of the tools offered in Zoom that will help you keep your Zoom sessions secure.

Require participants to be logged into a Zoom account

  • One way of securing your sessions involves requiring all participants to be logged into their Zoom account before accessing a meeting. This option also allows you to restrict participants to only those with an IU account.
  • To enable the setting, you'll first want to go to zoom.iu.edu and log in with your IU account.
  • Once you’re logged in, the Meetings page should display by default. You can also access this page in the navigation on the left side of the page by clicking on Meetings.
  • Hover over the meeting you want to edit settings for. Three buttons will appear to the right of the meeting listing – to edit the meeting, click the Edit The Edit Meeting page will load for the selected meeting.
  • In the meeting settings, in the Security section, click the box next to Require authentication to join. A drop-down menu will appear underneath the Require authentication to join option – from here, you can choose to allow any authenticated Zoom user to join the meeting, or only those with IU accounts. To restrict participants to only IU users, choose the option Only authenticated IU Zoom users can join.
  • When you’re done, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Save button to save your changes.

Turn off video and mute microphones upon entry

  • You can configure meeting rooms so that every participant's audio and video feeds are disabled when first joining.
  • To do this, make sure you're logged into Zoom at IU, and on the Meetings page on the Zoom at IU website.
  • On the meetings page, hover over the meeting you want to edit settings for. Three buttons will appear to the right of the meeting listing – to edit the meeting, click the Edit The Edit Meeting page will load for the selected meeting.
  • In the meeting settings, first, look for the Video section. To disable participant video when entering a meeting, to the right of Participant, click the radio button for
  • Next, scroll down to Meeting Options, and check the box next to Mute participants upon entry.
  • When you’re finished, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Save button to save your changes.

Enable the waiting room

Each Zoom meeting room has the ability to use a waiting room, which makes it so participants won't be able to join a meeting until you admit them individually.  At IU, waiting rooms are enabled by default for new meetings, and participants logged in with their IU account can bypass the waiting room and automatically join the meeting by default. However, if you want to use a waiting room for a meeting created before December 21st, 2020, you’ll need to manually enable the waiting room for that meeting.

  • To start, make sure you're logged into Zoom at IU, and on the Meetings page on the Zoom at IU website.
  • On the meetings page, hover over the meeting you want to edit settings for. Three buttons will appear to the right of the meeting listing – to edit the meeting, click the Edit The Edit Meeting page will load for the selected meeting.
  • In the Security section, check the box for Waiting room if it’s not already checked. This will enable the waiting room for the meeting.
  • Once you’re ready, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the Save button to save your changes.
  • If you want more information about other waiting room settings, such as adjusting who can bypass the waiting room, check out the section Enable the waiting room in the IU Knowledge Base article Prevent Zoombombing using Zoom privacy and security features.

Setting a meeting passcode

Setting a passcode for a meeting is another way of securing a meeting. Only users who have the passcode or an invite link you’ve shared with them can join the meeting. If setting a passcode for a meeting, you’ll want to make sure to share the passcode with attendees ahead of time, to ensure they can join the meeting.

  • To set a meeting passcode, make sure you're logged into Zoom at IU, and on the Meetings page on Zoom at IU website.
  • On the meetings page, hover over the meeting you want to edit settings for. Three buttons will appear to the right of the meeting listing – to edit the meeting, click the Edit The Edit Meeting page will load for the selected meeting.
  • In the Security section, click the checkbox next to Passcode. A passcode will be automatically generated for you.
  • When you’re finished, scroll to the bottom of the page and click the Save button to save your changes.

Ensure removed participants can't rejoin meetings

  • Zoom provides an option to disable removed participants from re-entering meetings. This can be helpful if an uninvited attendee arrives in your meeting and you need to remove them.
  • To check this setting, first, make sure you're logged into Zoom at IU.
  • Once you’re logged in, in the navigation on the left side of the page, click Settings. In the Settings navigation, click on In Meeting (Basic).
  • Scroll down until you see the setting Allow removed participants to rejoin and make sure the setting is toggled off. Zoom will automatically save any changes made here.

For more information on other steps you can take to secure a Zoom meeting, view the Knowledge Base article Prevent Zoombombing using Zoom privacy and security features at kb.iu.edu/d/ativ.