Keep Zoom Meetings Private
Zoom has privacy and security settings to reduce the possibility of an unknown person trying to join a meeting. Here are some ways to keep your Zoom session private and secure:
Disable "Join Before Host"
If you are scheduling a meeting where sensitive information will be discussed, we recommend leaving Enable join before host (found in the Meeting Options section while scheduling a meeting) turned OFF. See Zoom's Join Before Host help page for more information.
The join before host option can be convenient for allowing others to continue with a meeting if you are not available to start the meeting, but with this option enabled, the first person who joins the meeting will automatically be made the host and will have full control over the meeting.
If you know you won’t be able to start the meeting, you can designate an alternate host who can start the meeting in your stead. If you have given someone scheduling privilege to allow them to schedule meetings on your behalf, that person can also start the meeting.
Lock Your Session
The Zoom Host Controls allow the host or co-host to lock the meeting. Once all your attendees have joined,
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If the Participants panel is not visible, click Manage Participants at the bottom of the Zoom window.
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At the bottom of the Participants panel, click More.
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From the list that appears, click Lock Meeting.
Unlock the meeting following these same steps.
When a meeting is locked, no one can join, and you (the host or co-host) will NOT be alerted if anyone tries to join, so it's best not to lock the meeting until everyone has joined.
Meeting Passwords
While scheduling a meeting, under Meeting Options, check Require Meeting Password, then specify a strong password (make your password at least eight characters long and use at least three of the following types of characters: lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers, symbols). Participants will be asked for this password in order to join your meeting.
Remove a Participant from a Zoom Meeting or Webinar
If you have already begun a session and find an unwanted attendee has joined:
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If the Participants panel is not visible, click Manage Participants at the bottom of the Zoom window.
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Next to the person you want to remove, click More.
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From the list that appears, click Remove.
Recording meetings
It’s okay to use Zoom for meetings where confidential information, including Personally Identifiable Information (PII) or student education records covered under FERPA, is discussed or presented on slides or shared screens. And, it’s okay to record these meetings for later playback. But, if you do use Zoom this way, you are required to follow New School policies and procedures when sharing, downloading, or storing recorded meetings to ensure that they are accessible only to authorized individuals.
For those recording synchronous virtual class sessions
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If you plan on recording any synchronous virtual class sessions, please reference Recording Synchronous Lectures, Seminars and Studios - FAQs for Faculty - Spring 2020 prior to recording the session.
Shared cloud recordings require a password to access them (As of April 14, 2020)
On April 14, 2020, Zoom announced that any shared cloud recordings will now by default require a password to access them. A random password will be generated which can be modified by the users. This setting is applicable for newly generated recordings only (previous cloud recordings do not require a password).
To change this setting, you can log in to https://newschool.zoom.us/ and go to the Security tab. Click on Recording at the top of the page and scroll down until you see "Require password to access shared cloud recordings". Here is where you can adjust this setting from on to off.