Ensuring Privacy & Security in Zoom

Occasionally some people come uninvited to a Zoom session. These uninvited guests can cause a lot of distraction and upset participants with their actions.
You can edit settings to stop uninvited guests from entering the session, and if they are persistent, you can prevent them from causing harm.

It's important not to share your zoom links anywhere public, preferably not by email. Instead, keep your links in VU Collaborate, which is password protected behind the VU login.

 

This guide will cover the following:

• Using a Password
• Enable Screen Sharing for Hosts only
• Allow Participants to Share Screen during the Session
• Taking back the Sharing of the Screen
• Stop people from Changing their Name and Lock a Session
• Muting all Participants
• Remove a Participant from the Session
• Keep Participants out of the Room until the Host Arrives
• Security Features
• Limit the Sessions to only VU Students & Staff
  
  

 

Using a Password

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One of the best ways to stop people outside of VU ( uninvited guests ) from entering a Zoom classroom that you have scheduled is to insist on a password being used.  

Passwords are a default setting that cannot be removed. However, you can still change the password to a word instead of a number.

Students and staff who have logged into VU Collaborate will not need to enter the password to join the scheduled session because they are already logged in to a secure system ( VU Collaborate ). However, if someone from outside of VU tries to join the session, they will need to get the password correct before they can join. 

1. You will need to create a Zoom session within your current Delivery Space to edit the password for this step. If there are already sessions created, edit them instead.

Please read through Schedule a new class on Zoom to learn how to create Zoom sessions on VU Collaborate.

2. Scroll down till you see the Security options. You can change the password by typing within the textbox. Make sure the Waiting room setting is selected.

If you want to email the invitation or URL to participants, be aware that the password is naturally within the link and the invitation. If you schedule a class, the best option is to direct students to the Zoom classroom on VU Collaborate and not send the link. 

You may select Copy Meeting Invitation to copy the entire invitation instead.

 

Enable Screen Sharing for Hosts only

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Please refer to the Zoom Essentials Help Guide, Accessing Zoom step 2.1, to learn how to log into your VU Zoom Staff Account correctly.

1. Log in to the Zoom Web Portal following step 2.1 in the Zoom Essentials Help Guide.

2. In settings, under In Meeting (Basic), you will be able to turn on Screen Sharing for hosts only or all participants, counting on what is needed for your Zoom sessions.

Meeting settings at the organisational level have been set so only the host can share a screen. However, you will still be able to give control to others during the session to share their screen where and when you decide it is functional.

Although you can alter meeting settings and profile information at this site, advanced meeting settings will not transfer to the sessions created in VU Collaborate. All sessions that are made for students must be created in VU Collaborate. Sessions created in VU Collaborate will appear on the website, but sessions created on the website will not appear in VU Collaborate.

 

Allow Participants to Share Screens during the Session

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Even though the meeting settings state that only the host can share the screen, permission for participants to share their screen can be granted during the session.

1. Select the arrow next to Share Screen and select Advanced Sharing Options. 

2. This is the screen you will likely have. 

3. Select All Participants under the heading Who can share? To allow others to share their screen.

Take back Sharing of the Screen

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If somebody is sharing the screen and you need to take back control to share your screen instead, you can do the following.

1. The green bar at the top of the screen shows the person's name who is currently sharing the screen. 

It may not always be their real name, as names can be changed after joining the session. To stop people from changing their names, see the end of this step.

2. Select Share Screen on the Zoom navbar to start sharing your screen.

3. Select Yes to close off the other participant's screen to start sharing yours.

  

Stop people from Changing their Name and Lock a Session

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You can find more participant settings at the bottom left of the participants' list by selecting the three-dotted button.

You will need to select Participants on the Zoom navbar to complete this step.

Selecting the three-dotted button gives you the following options.

Simply select any of these settings that will allow or prevent that action from occurring.

 

Mute all Participants

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When scheduling a session on VU Collaborate, make sure to Mute participants upon entry. Participants will be able to unmute within the session, but they will enter muted for a professional beginning.

Suppose there is too much talking in the session. In that case, you can mute participants individually or all together and choose whether or not you want them to be able to unmute themselves afterwards.

To mute all students at once, select Mute All in the participants' list.

After you select Mute All, decide whether or not you want participants to be able to unmute themselves (the usual, leave the option ticked) or not. Then select Yes.

If you choose not to unmute them (untick the option), you will be able to unmute them yourself. Then select Yes.

 

Remove a Participant from the Session

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1. To remove someone from the session, hover over their name in the participants' list.

2. Select More, then Remove.

 

 3. You will get a prompt asking if you are sure to remove the participant; select Remove. Select Cancel if you change your mind.

4. If the person to be removed has been given co-host permission at any point in the session, that will need to be revoked first. Simply hover over their name in the participants' list, select More, then Remove Co-Host Permissions. 

 

Keep Participants out of the Room until the Host Arrives

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When Scheduling the Classes, it is advised that you select Enable waiting room to see participants' names as they join. This option means that each participant will show up on the participants' list with the option to be invited into the session by the host. This can be done for all participants at once or one at a time. Seeing the participant's name means that if they are not a student of your class, you can remove them before joining the session.

 

Security Features 

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For added security features, click on Security on the Zoom navbar. The security icon in the meeting controls allows you, as the host or the assigned co-host of a meeting, to enable or disable options during a session to secure the meeting and minimise disruption.

1. You will be able to lock the meeting where more participants will not be allowed to enter.
2. You can enable the waiting room where participants will reach a waiting room where they need to be approved by you to be allowed in the meeting.
3. You can hide and unhide students' profile pictures.
4. You can also enable or disable the participants' screen share, chat, and renaming features.
5. You can disable the chat feature.
6. You can lock the option that allows participants to rename themselves. 
7. You can lock the option for students to unmute themselves.
8. You can suspend all participant's activities by turning off their video.
9. You can lock students from sharing Whiteboards.
10. You can remove participants permanently.
11. You can suspend all participant activities.

 

Limit the Sessions to only VU Students & Staff

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For classroom ( and other online activities ), you may find it helpful to limit the session only to allow VU Students and Staff participants. All participants will need to sign into Zoom using their VU account ( e-number or s-number ) to join.

When scheduling a session on VU Collaborate, you can enable this feature by ticking; Only authenticated users can join. Then, ensure the option Sign in to Zoom (VU) is selected.

Existing meetings can be edited and updated.

If you want to change the settings to make every session available only to authenticated users, go to your Zoom Profile Settings ( https://victoriauniversity.zoom.us/profile/setting ) and scroll through to find Only authenticated users can join meetings from Web client. Turn this setting on.

This feature is available to all Zoom users at VU.