Leaving your Zoom meetings open to anyone is risky business these days. "Zoombombing" has become a real problem, with mischief-makers spamming public meetings or sharing disturbing content.
Requiring authentication stops these unwanted guests dead in their tracks. But locked-down meetings have other advantages too. They create an intimate setting where participants can speak freely about confidential matters without worrying about who might be listening in. Integrating logins also enables tracking of who attended what meetings, which is great for compliance.
With a couple simple settings, you can balance openness with privacy in your Zoom meetings. Read on to find out how.
Using Passwords to Restrict Access
The most straightforward way to authenticate attendees is by requiring a password to join Zoom meetings. As the meeting host, you choose a password and provide it only to the invited participants.
Here are the steps:
First, schedule your meeting as usual in the Zoom web portal. Then edit the meeting settings and check the box for "Require meeting password." Enter any password you want to use. Make it complex enough that guests can't guess it but simple enough for your attendees to enter on mobile devices.
Next, set your meeting options to enable waiting rooms. This staging area securely holds participants until the host is ready. Prevent intruders from bypassing this check by disabling the setting "Join before host."
Finally, provide the meeting link and password only to the expected participants. Send them calendar invites or emails including the joining info. For sensitive meetings, ask attendees not to share access widely.
When it's time to start, log in as host and admit attendees from the waiting room as you're ready. Lock the meeting once all invited guests have arrived to bar any new entrants.
Leveraging Single Sign-On Security
Typing custom passwords for each Zoom meeting introduces friction for returning attendees of a series. An alternative authentication method is integrating single sign-on (SSO) through Google, Office 365 or another identity provider.
Rather than memorizing passwords, participants just log in with existing credentials for Google or Microsoft accounts before joining protected meetings. Zoom matches those identities against an authorization list you configure for meeting access.
To enable SSO in your Zoom account:
First, sign up for Zoom Enterprise with SSO enabled. Connect your identity provider account to set up automatic user provisioning and deprovisioning.
Next, license and assign roles for attendees in your identity provider's admin console. Add users you want to authenticate to protected meetings. Set appropriate permissions like attendee, host or administrator.
Then schedule new Zoom meetings and require authentication via your identity provider. Lock meetings to prevent unsigned-in guests from accessing them.
With this setup, users you've already approved can smoothly join secure video sessions without the friction of resetting passwords.
Supernormal for Effortless Transcripts, Recording and Notes
Trying to drive meetings, take notes and police guest access simultaneously on Zoom calls can be challenging. Supernormal helps by automatically generating transcripts, recordings and highlights for your sessions behind the scenes. Instead of worrying about manually documenting the conversation, you can stay focused on the discussion knowing Supernormal has your back.
Here's how:
First, go to Supernormal.com and signup. After completing the onboarding steps, go to Account Settings and authorize the Supernormal app to access scheduled meetings on your Zoom account. If you also have meetings on Google Meet, be sure to install the browser extension for Google Chrome.
Next time you host a meeting, Supernormal will automatically join to capture the session. When Supernormal joins your Zoom meetings, participants see Supernormal appear just like all the other guests, and you can give your Supernormal note-taker a custom name so everyone knows it’s yours.
After wrapping the meeting, log into your Supernormal dashboard to browse, customize, and share your notes. With Supernormal assisting with documentation, you can concentrate fully on engaging with your meeting attendees instead of busily scribbling notes.
Restricting access to your Zoom meetings blocks unwanted intruders from disrupting sensitive discussions or sharing inappropriate content. But locking down meetings has other advantages too, like improving privacy and compliance. Require meeting passwords, leverage SSO integration or enable waiting rooms to control meeting attendance. Supernormal makes it even easier by auto-generating transcripts and notes of important discussions.
Try these authentication techniques in your next Zoom sessions to balance open collaboration with locked-down security. Because great meetings depend on who comes together - and who stays out.