
To avoid the risk of Zoom bombing, share your personal meeting ID only with your most trusted contacts. Because that ID doesn’t change, sharing it publicly increases the chance that future meetings using your personal ID might be Zoom bombed. Every registered Zoom user has a personal meeting ID, linked to what is essentially a permanent virtual meeting room.

What is zoom bomb password#
Given the wave of Zoom bombings, the inconvenience of requiring a password is probably worthwhile in keeping your meeting safe.Īlso, don’t use your personal meeting ID. But users often opt to make meetings public for the sake of convenience. Second, set your meetings to “private.” Zoom now sets all new meetings to “private” by default, requiring attendees to provide a password for access. Rather than posting a meeting link to a Facebook group or in a promotional tweet, distribute information via a more private method, such as email. This is perhaps the single most obvious precaution you can take. Most importantly, Zoom users should not share meeting links publicly. The company recommended users read this detailed guide, which covers precautions for keeping their meetings safe. There are several important, mostly straightforward ways to protect your meetings. How can I prevent Zoom bombing of my meetings and video calls? Dedicated forums have also cropped up on sites like Reddit, where r/Zoombombing was described as “dedicated to the posting of Zoom Classroom Meeting IDs.” Reddit says it has now banned the forum for violating site policies. According to Roy Zur, cofounder and CEO of cybersecurity firm Cybint, bad actors can find these addresses simply by searching for “” on social media sites like Facebook, where public meeting links are often posted. If a Zoom meeting is set to public, it can be accessed by anyone with the correct link.

The majority of Zoom bombing attacks appear not to be the product of flaws in Zoom’s code, but rather of users’ overall cybersecurity hygiene and their imperfect command of Zoom’s privacy settings. How are hackers joining Zoom meetings they aren’t supposed to be in? In particularly sensitive cases, this could become a method of corporate espionage or blackmail. Particularly in a large meeting, an unwelcome participant might go unnoticed, enabling that person to record the meeting or otherwise gather information.

The vulnerability also has people wondering if Zoom is safe to use. Hackers gain access to a Zoom meeting and attempt to disrupt the video chat and upset participants by shouting profanity or racial slurs, or putting disturbing or offensive images in their video feed. Many Zoom bombing incidents have amounted to a form of trolling.
What is zoom bomb how to#
Here’s how Zoom bombings work, and, more importantly, how to prevent them. Zoom hacking issues like this are happening all over the world, from over-the-Internet Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to sensitive, high-level government gatherings. When the presenter started covering coronavirus disinformation posted to Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter, a Zoom bomber scribbled all over the screen, forcing the meeting to end early. On March 30, for instance, uninvited strangers crashed a Zoom meeting on cyberattacks. A disruption specific to the teleconferencing app Zoom, which has recently surged in popularity, this vulnerability has been been exploited by hackers, with disturbing results. As people and businesses have become increasingly reliant on video chatting since the coronavirus pandemic began, the FBI’s Boston office reported this week that “Zoom bombing” incidents are occurring across America. Subscribe to Outbreak, a daily newsletter roundup of stories on the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on global business.
