Zoom Security Guide

The following information outlines the steps necessary to host more secure Zoom meetings and webinars. Using the settings recommended below can protect your meetings against Zoom bombing, a practice in which an uninvited attendee disrupts a Zoom meeting by sharing inappropriate or offensive material.

As the host of a Zoom meeting or webinar, you are responsible for ensuring the appropriate settings are in place to protect your meeting. If you have questions or need help adjusting your settings, please contact the 24/7 IT Help Desk at any time for assistance.

Reminder: The University of Pittsburgh’s standard Zoom environment is not HIPAA compliant. However, the University provides access to a separate HIPAA-compliant Zoom environment for those who are conducting tele-medicine appointments or are hosting meetings that discuss protected health information. Learn more ...

Types of Zoom Meetings

Before applying recommended settings, use the table below to help determine whether your meeting is better suited to a Zoom Meeting or a Zoom Webinar.

Meeting Type	Max. attendees in a single meeting	Who Can Schedule	Meeting Length
Basic license	100	Sponsored accounts	40-minute limit
Regular meeting	300	Students and staff	24-hour limit
Large meeting	500	Faculty	24-hour limit
Webinar	500	Granted as needed upon review	24-hour limit
SIP H.323 phone connector	Based upon license type	Granted as needed upon review	24-hour limit

Recommended Zoom Settings

External Meeting Settings (Some Participants May Be Unknown)

Common Settings For Both Meetings and Webinars

Setting Option	Default Setting	Recommended Setting
		Public Town Hall	Public Training	Large Entertainment
Passcode	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Only authenticated users can join	No	Zoom.us	Zoom.us	No
Allow participant to rename themselves	Yes	No	No	Yes
Host video at meeting start	No	No	No	No
Panelist video at webinar start	No	No	No	No
Display annotator's name by annotation	Yes	N/A	N/A	N/A

Meetings

Setting Option	Default Setting	Recommended Setting
		Public Town Hall	Public Training	Large Entertainment
Waiting room	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Personal meeting ID	No	No	N/A	N/A
Join before host	No	No	No	No
Registration	No	Yes	Yes	N/A
Automatic recording	No	Yes or No	N/A	N/A
Mute participants upon entry	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
In-Meeting file transfer	Yes	No	N/A	N/A
Host video at meeting start	No	No	N/A	N/A
Attendee video at meeting start	No	No	N/A	N/A

In-Meeting Settings

Setting Option	Default Setting	Recommended Setting
		Public Town Hall	Public Training	Large Entertainment
Lock meeting	No	No	No	No
Participants can unmute themselves	Yes	No	N/A	N/A
Chat	Participants can send 1:1 or group	No	No	No
Participant annotation	Host & Participant	Host Only	Host Only	Host Only
Screen share	Host Only	Host Only	Host Only	Host Only

Webinars

Setting Option	Default Setting	Recommended Setting
		Public Town Hall	Public Training	Large Entertainment
Practice mode	No	N/A	Yes	Yes
Registration	No	N/A	Yes	No
Automatic recording	No	N/A	Yes or No	Yes or No
Q&A	Yes	N/A	Yes	No

Desktop Client Settings

Setting Option	Default Setting	Recommended Setting
		Public Town Hall	Public Training	Large Entertainment
Display participant's name on their video	Yes	Yes	N/A	N/A

Academic Meeting Settings (All Participants Are Known)

Common Settings For Both Meetings and Webinars

Setting Option	Default Setting	Recommended Setting
		Instructor Office Hours	Zoom Room (Classroom Instruction)
Passcode	No	Yes	No
Only authenticated users can join	No	@pitt.edu	@pitt.edu
Allow participant to rename themselves	Yes	Yes	Yes
Host video at meeting start	No	Yes or No	Yes or No
Panelist video at webinar start	No	Yes	No
Display annotator's name by annotation	Yes	Yes	Yes

Meetings

Setting Option	Default Setting	Recommended Setting
		Instructor Office Hours	Zoom Room (Classroom Instruction)
Waiting room	No	Yes or No	No
Personal meeting ID	No	Yes or No	No
Join before host	No	N/A	Yes
Registration	No	No	No
Automatic recording	No	No	Yes
Mute participants upon entry	No	No	Yes
In-Meeting file transfer	Yes	Yes	Yes
Host video at meeting start	No	Yes	No
Attendee video at meeting start	No	Yes	No

In-Meeting Settings

Setting Option	Default Setting	Recommended Setting
		Instructor Office Hours	Zoom Room (Classroom Instruction)
Lock meeting	No	Yes	No
Participants can unmute themselves	Yes	Yes	Yes
Chat	Participants can send 1:1 or group	Yes	Yes
Participant annotation	Host & Participant	Both	Both
Screen share	Host Only	Host Only	Host Only

Webinars

Setting Option	Default Setting	Recommended Setting
		Instructor Office Hours	Zoom Room (Classroom Instruction)
Practice mode	No	No	No
Registration	No	No	No
Automatic recording	No	No	No
Q&A	Yes	No	No

Desktop Client Settings

Setting Option	Default Setting	Recommended Setting
		Instructor Office Hours	Zoom Room (Classroom Instruction)
Display participant's name on their video	Yes	Yes or No	Yes

Administrative Meeting Settings (All Participants Are Known)

Common Settings For Both Meetings and Webinars

Setting Option	Default Setting	Recommended Setting
		Small Staff Meeting	Dept. Meeting	Small Group Training
Passcode	No	No	No	No
Only authenticated users can join	No	@pitt.edu	@pitt.edu	@pitt.edu
Allow participant to rename themselves	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Host video at meeting start	No	Yes or No	Yes or No	Yes or No
Panelist video at webinar start	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Display annotator's name by annotation	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Meetings

Setting Option	Default Setting	Recommended Setting
		Small Staff Meeting	Dept. Meeting	Small Group Training
Waiting room	No	No	No	Yes
Personal meeting ID	No	No	No	No
Join before host	No	N/A	N/A	N/A
Registration	No	No	Yes or No	Yes or No
Automatic recording	No	Yes or No	Yes or No	Yes
Mute participants upon entry	No	No	Yes	Yes
In-Meeting file transfer	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Host video at meeting start	No	Yes	No	Yes
Attendee video at meeting start	No	Yes	No	Yes

In-Meeting Settings

Setting Option	Default Setting	Recommended Setting
		Small Staff Meeting	Dept. Meeting	Small Group Training
Lock meeting	No	No	No	No
Participants can unmute themselves	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Chat	Participants can send 1:1 or group	Yes	Yes	Yes
Participant annotation	Host & Participant	Both	Both	Both
Screen share	Host Only	Host Only	Host Only	Host Only

Webinars

Setting Option	Default Setting	Recommended Setting
		Small Staff Meeting	Dept. Meeting	Small Group Training
Practice mode	No	No	No	No
Registration	No	No	No	No
Automatic recording	No	No	No	No
Q&A	Yes	No	No	No

Desktop Client Settings

Setting Option	Default Setting	Recommended Setting
		Small Staff Meeting	Dept. Meeting	Small Group Training
Display participant's name on their video	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Security Standards and Best Practices

Security Monitoring and Alerts

Information Technology regularly reviews news about major security vulnerabilities that impact computers widely used by the University community, and monitors for attacks directed against University computers.

When University computers are at risk, we post security alerts here on our website.

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Zoom Security Guide

Types of Zoom Meetings

Recommended Zoom Settings

External Meeting Settings (Some Participants May Be Unknown)

External Meeting Settings (Some Participants May Be Unknown)

Common Settings For Both Meetings and Webinars

Meetings

In-Meeting Settings

Webinars

Desktop Client Settings

Academic Meeting Settings (All Participants Are Known)

Academic Meeting Settings (All Participants Are Known)

Common Settings For Both Meetings and Webinars

Meetings

In-Meeting Settings

Webinars

Desktop Client Settings

Administrative Meeting Settings (All Participants Are Known)

Administrative Meeting Settings (All Participants Are Known)

Common Settings For Both Meetings and Webinars

Meetings

In-Meeting Settings

Webinars

Desktop Client Settings

Security Standards and Best Practices

Security Monitoring and Alerts

Stay Updated

Stay updated on the latest Pitt IT news, services, and events: