At the UiO, you take advantage of security settings made by the UiO central Zoom administrator. Log in with your UiO username and password, and you will use a version of Zoom that has additional measures for increased security. In addition, there are a number of settings and actions you can do yourself, to ensure that your meetings are safe.
All features referred to in the table below are described in more detail in the instructions for invitations from Outlook and invitations from Zoom.
| Protect the meeting ID | Do not share meeting ID or URL for meetings on open channels such as social media. As far as possible, the invitation should go by email or in calendar invitations. Many people and robots search for Zoom IDs on Facebook and other open channels, so if you invite to an open meeting, for example, Zoom IDs should be distributed elsewhere than Facebook. Open meetings should also have waiting rooms, they should be locked after start-up and have other security measures. See below. |
| Use automatically generated Meeting ID |
If you use your personal meeting ID (your own meeting room), you may find that people who know the ID of your meeting room inadvertently enter a meeting they are not invited to. Therefore, you should always select Generate automatically for the Meeting ID option in the meeting settings in the scheduling window. You get a random, unique ID for the meeting and prevent someone from reusing ID from another meeting. |
| Use a passcode | If you select to protect the meeting with a passcode, you prevent people or robots from entering your meetings by guessing the meeting ID. You can also use this feature if you want to share the URL of the meeting with many people, but send the passcode only to participants who are wanted at the meeting. You can send a meeting ID and passcode, or a meeting link that has the passcode integrated. Therefore, you should always check Passcode in the meeting settings in the scheduling window. |
| Authenticated users only? | If you select Only authenticated users can join meeting settings in the scheduling window, only persons who are logged in to Zoom can join the meeting. You can safely use this setting if the meeting is only for students and / or employees at the UiO. If the meeting is to be fully open, you should not use this option. |
| Use registration | If you require participants to register before entering the meeting, you avoid unwanted participants and secure your meeting against zoom bombing. You also get a list of participants. Read about registration |
| Lock the meeting |
As the host of a meeting, you can choose to lock the meeting when all the guests have arrived or the meeting is well underway. Move the mouse pointer to the bottom of the Zoom window and click the Security icon. Select Lock Meeting, and no new participants can enter. For security reasons, we recommend that the host locks the meeting in place. This is especially important for large meetings and lectures where the URL or meeting ID is spread to many. When the meeting is locked, no new participants can enter, even if they have the correct meeting ID and possibly a password. If you lock a meeting, it is important that you state in the invitation a telephone number you or the co-host can be reached at. Then any participants who arrive late can call, and the meeting can be unlocked until they have arrived. It is important to lock the meeting again afterwards.
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| Use a waiting room for the meeting |
If you use a waiting room for your meeting, you as the host must let the meeting participants into the meeting. When the participants click on the link to attend the meeting, they do not enter the meeting directly, but have to wait to be let in. This way, you as the host have better control over who actually enters the meeting and you reduce the possibility of unwanted participants. For security reasons, we recommend that Enable waiting room is selected in the meeting settings in the planning window. |
| Limit who can share screen conent |
In meetings, it is convenient for some participants to share the content on their screen, for example to show a presentation or something else. At the UiO, the default setting is such that only the host can share screen content. If more people need to share screen content, you can make those participants co-hosts. If you want to give a meeting participant status as a co-host, go to the picture of the person in the meeting, and click on the three dots in the upper right corner of the picture. Select Make co-host from the menu. When the person has finished sharing screen content, you can clear the status again by going to the same menu. |
| The host opens the meeting | The option Join before host should be deactivated in the meeting settings in the planning window. Then no one can enter the meeting before the host, and the host has better control over who participates. |
Prepare for larger meetings
For meetings or lectures with many participants, it can be challenging to check and possibly remove participants that you do not know or who do not behave in accordance with law and order. As a meeting host, you must be prepared for the possibility that this may happen.
- Before the meeting, give some participants you know the role of co-host so that they can help manage the meeting
- Make sure that the co-hosts understand their role, and that the role involves the administration of the participants
For very large lectures that for various reasons must be publicly available, a webinar may be better suited than a meeting. The advantage of this is that only the host and the panelists can share screen content, and participants can't speak without permission. Read about webinars and how they are different from meetings.
Remove / throw out participants in case of unwanted behavior
Even if you are careful and take action to avoid unwanted participants and unwanted behavior, it may still happen that unwanted persons get into the meeting. The host and co-hosts can remove such participants from the meeting: Go to the list of participants and click on More ... next to the user you want to remove. Select Remove from the menu. If you have followed the advice to lock the meeting, the participant you threw out cannot come in again.
Settings that are especially important for large and open meetings:
- Very limited screen sharing
- Lock the meeting when it has started
- Turn off Join before host
- Use the waiting room
- Use a passcode/password protection: If you share a Zoom link publicly, remove the passcode from the link itself, and instead write the passcode in clear text below. This will prevent automated programs from entering the meeting.
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