You want visitors to come and feel welcome at your Toastmasters Club. However, there are people willing to take advantage of that fact to sell their wares or show you images you don’t want to see. How can you avoid Zoom Bomber unpleasantness? Here are a few things you can do:
- Don’t publish a link, with or without password embedded. Visitors must request access. Passwords are distributed separately.
- Once a meeting has been compromised, get a new Zoom link/password
- Have a security officer (I like the term “bouncer”). SAA is the obvious choice, if they have/will learn/ the tech skills. If that becomes overwhelming, have a greeter (your VPM for example) as well as a bouncer.
- Use a waiting room, no one gets directly into the meeting; the bouncer does not admit suspicious people (weird hacker names are a giveaway)
- Default everyone to initial audio and video mute, consider having restrictions on chat during prepared speeches.
- Screen Sharing is off by default, only allowed upon request by known person
- During the meeting, the bouncer is vigilant and kicks offenders out promptly (our Finance Manager Linda Patten calls it “swatting flies”)
This may seem less welcoming than you would like your club to be. However, Zoom Bombers are only going to get more clever over time and you do not want to have a single one in your meeting.
