Millions of instructors and students are turning for the first time to Zoom. Here are a few ways to keep your Zoom meetings secure from outsiders and in your control. These tips are focused on actions you can take in advance before a meeting. For advice on keeping a live Zoom meeting secure, visit Zoom Meeting Space Management.

Install the Latest Version of Zoom

Make sure you, and those in your meeting, are running the latest version of the Zoom client to benefit from the latest security updates. To manually update your client, click your profile picture after logging in and select Check for Updates.

Avoid Using Your Personal Meeting ID

Do not use your Personal Meeting ID (PMI) for a class meeting when creating a Zoom meeting through ucf.zoom.us. This is a unique ID associated to your account. Once a participant has the link to your PMI, they can join it at any time a meeting is in use with that ID.

Keep Meeting IDs Private

Don’t publicly share your Zoom Meeting ID. Instead, only send it directly to the individuals who should be present during the meeting.

Enable a Password for Your Meeting

Set a password for each meeting, then share that only with the individuals who should be present during the meeting.

Enable Meeting Registration

Require attendees to register prior to receiving the information on how to join a meeting. Attendees who have not registered will not be able to join the meeting. Read more about meeting registration.

When requiring registration for a meeting, make sure you set your registration settings to Manually Approve registration requests. By default, registration requests are automatically approved. By changing the setting to manual approval, you must review registration requests and approve them one by one. At this time, only meetings that were created through the Zoom website can be switched to manual approval; however, importing the meeting into Webcourses@UCF will retain the manual approved registration requests.

Switch Registration Approval from Automatic to Manual

1. Navigate to ucf.zoom.us.
2. Sign in with your NID and NID password.
3. Create a new meeting or click on an existing meeting. Make sure the Registration option is enabled.
4. Scroll to the bottom of the meeting page. Click Edit next to Registration Options.

5. In the pop-up window, select Manually Approve under the Approval options. If you would like to receive an email notification when a participant registers, check the box next to Send an email to host when someone registers.

6. Click Save All.
7. To approve registration requests, click Edit next to Manage Attendees.

8. Approve participants by clicking the checkbox next to each participant’s name. Click Approve to approve a participant. Only approved participants can attend the meeting.

Require Registration for a Meeting Created in Webcourses@UCF

1. Click Zoom in the course navigation menu.
2. You can enable registration by checking the Required box next to Registration when scheduling a new meeting or editing the settings in an already existing meeting.
3. Click Save.
4. After you save the meeting, your meeting will display a message that says “People are required to register before joining this meeting.” Copy the Registration URL to distribute to students, or click the Copy the invitation link to copy the full invitation text.

Require Registration for a Meeting Created through the Zoom Website

1. Navigate to ucf.zoom.us.
2. Sign in with your NID and NID password.
3. You can enable registration by checking the Required box next to Registration when scheduling a new meeting or editing the settings in an already existing meeting.
4. After you save the meeting, your meeting will display a message that says “People are required to register before joining this meeting.” Copy the Registration URL to distribute to students, or click the Copy the invitation link to copy the full invitation text.

Only Allow Authenticated Users

Make sure your meeting is set to authenticated users only by checking the Only authenticated users can join setting when creating your meeting. This prevents non-UCF personnel from accessing the meeting.

Add a Virtual Background

Use a Virtual Background if you want to cover up everything behind you with some other image or video for privacy concerns.

Prevent Participants from Joining Before the Host

Disable the Join Before Host feature so that participants cannot join a meeting before you join. This feature should be disabled by default.

Disable Screen Sharing for Participants

By default, screen sharing permissions are only granted to the host. Double check that your screen sharing permissions are set to Host Only with the following instructions:

1. Navigate to ucf.zoom.us.
2. Sign in with your NID and NID password.
3. Click Settings in the sidebar.
4. Under Meetings, click In Meeting (Basic).
5. Find the screen sharing permissions. Make sure Host Only is checked off.

Hide profile picture during a meeting or webinar

For additional security, you can choose to hide all participant profile pictures in a meeting or webinar and only display the names of the participants, including the host. Participants will not be able to update or share their profile pictures. This setting can be useful to prevent distracting or inappropriate images from being shown, to increase security and privacy.

Hide profile pictures while in a meeting

1. Start a meeting as the host.
2. Click Security .
3. Click Hide Profile Pictures. All profile pictures will be hidden.

Hide profile pictures while in a webinar

1. Start a webinar as the host.
2. Click Participants .
3. In the bottom-right corner of the Participants panel, click .
4. Click Hide Profile Pictures. All profile pictures will be hidden.

Disable Private Chat Among Participants

Disable Private Chat so that participants cannot spam other participants with one-on-one messages.

1. Navigate to ucf.zoom.us.
2. Sign in with your NID and NID password.
3. Click Settings in the sidebar.
4. Under Meetings, click In Meeting (Basic).
5. Find the private chat feature and turn the toggle to the off position.

Restrict Participants from Annotating

You can prevent participants from adding their own annotations to a whiteboard or shared screen.

How to Disable Participant Annotation Privileges for Future Meetings

This setting is a global setting that affects all Zoom meetings created after the setting has been changed. If you wish to allow participants to add annotations again, you will need to re-enable the Annotations setting prior to the meeting.

1. Navigate to ucf.zoom.us.
2. Click Settings in the sidebar.
3. Under Meeting settings, click In Meeting (Basic).
4. Scroll down and look for the Annotation setting.
5. To disable participant annotations, turn the toggle to the off position. Once turned off, the toggle bar will be gray and “Modified” will be displayed to the right of the setting.

How to Disable Participant Annotation Privileges During a Meeting

1. While sharing your screen, click More in the toolbar.

2. Click Disable Attendee Annotation.