IT Services are aware that staff and students are using the Zoom video-conferencing technology as well as the supported Microsoft Teams tool to feel connected during the lockdown period.

Some users have advised that internet trolls are using Zoom’s screen-sharing feature to target other viewers with inappropriate videos. The problem stems from Zoom’s policy that “The host does not need to grant screen share access for another participant to share their screen.”

ITS guidance on making Zoom secure

Preventing trolls from accessing video calls

Hosts can disable this option in their settings or the Admin controls of a call. To do this you can either change this in your pre-meeting Settings or in the in-call admin settings for Share Screen -> Advanced Sharing Settings.

Anyone publicly sharing Zoom links where they could be discovered by trolls, like on Twitter, should be sure to change screen-sharing to “Host-Only” before a call starts or as soon as they see the feature being abused. Some tips from entrepreneur Alex Miller for other ways to protect your Zoom calls include:

• Disable “Join Before Host” so people can’t cause trouble before you arrive.
• Enabling “Co-Host” so you can assign others to help moderate.
• Disable “File Transfer” so there’s no digital virus sharing.
• Disable “Allow Removed Participants to Rejoin” so expelled attendees can’t slip back in