Who’s Zoomin’ Who? Keeping Uninvited Guests out of Your Zoom Meetings

Dear Anthony Dardis,

Zoom video- and audio-conferencing software is now available to all Hofstra employees and students. Everyone using Zoom has a unique Personal Meeting ID (PMI), which is a link to a virtual space permanently reserved for you to host an instant meeting, or schedule future meetings.

As you may have heard from news reports, there is a known issue with the Zoom platform that allows uninvited bad actors to join and disrupt meetings. This is a widespread problem affecting organizations across the country, including colleges and universities like Hofstra. In fact, the issue has become so common that a new slang term has been coined to describe it: “Zoombombing.”

Luckily, there is a simple fix for Zoombombing: Requiring a password for your Zoom meetings.

ITS has updated Hofstra’s default Zoom settings to do just that. Now, a password will be created for each new Zoom meeting, unless you opt to configure your account (or just one meeting) differently.

Zoom’s implementation of meeting passwords is seamless for you and your meeting participants. The one-time password for each meeting is created automatically and then embedded in the link that is included as part of every Zoom invitation. Participants simply click the link to join the Zoom meeting. That’s it!

For previously scheduled meetings, no action is required. Any existing invitations will continue to function as expected. For meetings that use your Personal Meeting ID (PMI), a password will now be required, unless you choose to disable that feature.

For security purposes, faculty should share Zoom meeting information with students only through their Blackboard course or Hofstra e-mail. Do not share Zoom links using any social media network.

You can learn more about preventing uninvited outsiders from joining your Zoom meetings, including instructions and best practices for scheduling and hosting meetings, here: https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2020/03/20/keep-the-party-crashers-from-crashing-your-zoom-event/

Additional resources to assist you with Zoom and other technologies for teaching remotely can be found here: https://www.hofstra.edu/about/it/it-remote-faculty.html

If you have questions regarding this message, please contact the ITS Help Desk at (516) 463-7777, or e-mail help@hofstra.edu.

Sincerely,
Jesse Webster
Associate CIO