Hosting Zoom Conferences – What You Need to Know | Stewart Title Blog

If you haven’t heard about “Zoom bombing” yet, you’re probably not using Zoom conferencing. Here’s what you need to know. The usage of Zoom video conferencing exploded when more people started working remotely due to the outbreak of COVID-19 (Coronavirus). Because of Zoom’s limited free licensing, the platform has become popular among companies for video meetings and among friends for virtual happy hours. However, with publicity comes extra interest from the hacking community. So it wouldn’t take them too long to exploit the vulnerability in Zoom. If nothing else, it is a considerable embarrassment. Jerks and hackers alike are using Zoom’s screen-sharing feature to blast other viewers with awful videos from across the Internet, ranging from violence to shocking pornography.

Without going into the technical details, if you are the host of a Zoom meeting, change this setting in your Zoom profile. These are global settings and will apply to any meetings you host.

• Go to “Settings” >> “In Meeting (Basic)”
• Change “Screen Sharing” to “Host Only.” The default is “All Participants.”
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While you are there, tune these setting to host like a pro:

• Disable “Join Before Host” so people can’t bomb your meeting before you arrive
  
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• Disable “File Transfer” so there is no virus sharing
  
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• Disable “Allow Removed Participants to Rejoin” so banned participants can’t come back
  
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Following the setting changes above will help you reduce the risk of being outed by hackers and malicious Internet trolls.

Happy Zooming!