Zoom Security Changes Continue – Simple steps for keeping up!

You’ve probably noticed that Zoom continues to change. In an ongoing effort to protect meetings from surprise and unwanted guests, security is increasingly tighter. The good news is that a well-protected meeting is very unlikely to be disrupted by unwanted guests. The problem is that if your wanted guests also can’t join the meeting, you’ll find yourself all alone.

Here are some simple steps to ensure that your meeting is not disrupted by an unexpected change or glitch:

• Install the updates: they are coming out weekly, but the installations are fast and easy. Updating is critical if you are not running at least Zoom 5.0.
• Add passwords to older meetings: Passwords are required for meetings scheduled after May 16, 2020. At this point, passwords are not required for future meetings that were scheduled before that date (including recurring meetings). However, you may experience a glitch if you edit an older meeting without a password. To avoid this glitch, either add a password to these older meetings or delete them altogether and schedule new meetings instead.
• Share the password: Your guests can join a meeting via a long URL, which has the password embedded, or directly through the client, which requires first the Meeting Number and then the password. Do you know how your guests will try to join? If not, make sure to share the full connection info with your guests.
• Yet keep the password private: Never share meeting passwords or long URLs on public websites.

If you experience a technology glitch or surprising behavior from a university program like Zoom, please do not assume it has already been reported. Contact Technology Help, and encourage your students to do the same.