One of the most stress-inducing tasks as a Zoom Tech is dealing with the threat of so-called “Zoom Bombers.” A Zoom Bomber is an individual who gains access to a meeting and then disrupts the meeting either with perverse audio and video, illicit screen shares, nasty annotations, and vulgar, sometimes dangerous messages in the chat window. These entrants into the meetings are unwanted and can bring a meeting to a screeching halt. Thankfully, Zoom has introduced features to help us deal with these incidents swiftly and securely. Please review the Security Check section for details on these security functions.
Here we walk you through the procedures step-by-step if/when a Zoom bombing occurs.
Click the Security shield on the bottom of your gallery window and on the menu click “Suspend Participant Activities.” This will deactivate all videos, mute everyone, suspend any screen shares and annotations, turn off the chat function, hide all profile pictures and finally lock the meeting from anyone else wanting to get into the meeting. The room is now secure.
When you’re ready, restart your video, unmute and read the following script:
“Hello Everyone. I have paused our meeting due to a potential Zoom Bomber.
The meeting has been locked and all functions disabled until we can address this intrusion. Do not leave the meeting as you will be unable to rejoin. If there are any suspicious links in the chat, please do not click them.
When the situation has been resolved, we will continue the meeting. Thank you for your patience.”
During the activation of “Suspend Participant Activities” the Zoom Host and Co-Hosts participant features will be turned off but not locked. General Participant’s features are turned off and locked.
Converse with other Trusted Servants if you need help identifying the bombers. Once identified, click on the ellipses … button on their video in the gallery window and select Remove.
Sometimes Zoom bombers rename themselves to look like other guests in the meeting as way to hide. If you didn’t catch who was bombing by name, you might have to ask any duplicate names to turn their cameras on so you can identify who the bomber is from the real attendee. Once all bombers have been removed, announce to the meeting that the room is again secure and move to Step 4.
Click on the Security button on the gallery control bar and in the menu, checkmark: Chat, Rename Themselves, Unmute Themselves, Start Video. Uncheckmark: Hide Profile Pictures and Lock Meeting.
If you continue to have bombers arriving in the waiting room, you may want to leave Lock meeting activated to avoid further interruptions. Remember this will also prevent legitimate users from joining the meeting.
See our Zoom Tech Best Practices guide for more helpful suggestions
Updated 1/14/2022
One of the Zoom Tech’s primary functions is the security of the meeting environment from intruders, or in Zoom parlance “bombers.” The first thing I do after starting a meeting is double check the security parameters to ensure I have a grasp on what guests can expect when they join and to thwart any would-be attackers.
In the Zoom meeting window, locate and click on the Security shield at the bottom. In the menu that appears, you will see a list of items. At the top, make sure the “Lock Meeting” is unchecked as this will allow guests to begin entering the waiting room when they logon. Next make sure the “Enable Waiting Room” option is checkmarked. This will ensure bombers can’t freely enter the room without your consent. Next, in “Allow participants to:” make sure “Share Screen” is unchecked. We don’t want non-hosts being able to blast any content from their screens to the whole room. Typically the rest on the list I leave checkmarked like the ability to for guests to chat, rename themselves, unmute and start their videos.
The final thing to note is the red-lettered “Suspend Participant Activities” option at the bottom. This is a powerful new security feature that gives the host a one-click ability to halt any would-be bombers from wreaking havok in the meeting. When activated, this turns off all participants videos and microphones, disables the chat function, turns off screen sharing, prevents users from renaming themselves, hides profile photos and finally locks the meeting. When a bombing occurs, activating this is the surest* way to put a stop to the unwanted behavior.
Of note, once you clear the bomber(s) from the room, be sure to reactivate the various functions listed under “Allow participants to:” so that people can turn their cameras, mics, etc back on and continue the meeting. Also turn off the Lock Meeting function so new users can join the room. If the bombing persists, leave Lock Meeting enabled to ensure the security of the meeting.
Zoom bombing can be a very stressful thing for a Zoom Tech to deal with but thankfully, we have great tools at our disposal today to deal with these issues when they arise.
Finally, the last thing to cover under security is the green shield icon at the top left corner of the meeting window. Clicking this will reveal the various pieces of information about the meeting like the meeting ID number, who the host is, the passcode assigned to the meeting, a numeric passcode for telephone callers, an invitation link you can send to people who need it, and if the meeting is encrypted. If someone asks what the meeting code is, simply copy and paste from this menu.
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