Here are six methods you can incorporate to help secure your Zoom meetings.


Set a Meeting Password

Setting a strong password for your meeting can prevent unanticipated guests from joining.


When scheduling a meeting, under Meeting Options, select Require meeting password, then specify a strong password (make your password at least eight characters long and use at least three of the following types of characters: lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers, symbols). Participants will be asked to enter this password in order to join your meeting.


Enable Waiting Room

The Waiting Room feature allows the host to control when participants join your meeting. As the meeting host, you can admit attendees individually, or hold all attendees in the virtual waiting room and admit all when you are ready to begin.


Admitting participants from the Waiting Room into the live session requires an additional step for the host but provides increased control to only allow participants to join the meeting when you admit specifically admit them. This feature can be enabled on a per- meeting basis when scheduling. 


Disable Join Before Host

If you are scheduling a meeting where sensitive information will be discussed and you do not want participants to start the meeting without you, it's best to disable join before host functionality. 


If you disable join before host, participants will see a pop-up dialog that says, "Please wait for the host to start this meeting."


If you are the host, there is a login button to login and start the meeting as the host. 


This feature can be enabled or disabled on a per-meeting basis when scheduling. Visit Join Before Host in the Zoom Help Center for additional information. 


Limit Sharing to the Host

This will not be appropriate when multiple participants will need to share and collaborate but this restriction can help prevent intrusive sharing and potential meeting disruptions. 


To limit sharing privileges while in your meeting: 

  1. Click the up-arrow next to Share Screen.
  2. Select Advanced Sharing Options.
  3. Under Who can share, click Only Host.

Remove a Participant

If you are the host or co-host in a session and notice an unwanted guest has joined or a participant is disruptive to your session, you have the option to remove them. 

  1. If the Participants panel is not visible, click Manage Participants at the bottom of the Zoom window. 
  2. Next to the person you want to remove, click More.
  3. From the list that appears, click Remove.

Lock Your Meeting

The Zoom Host Controls allow the host or co-host to lock the meeting once all anticipated participants have joined the meeting. 

To lock your meeting: 

  1. If the Participants panel is not visible, click Manage Participants at the bottom of the Zoom window. 
  2. At the bottom of the Participants panel, click More.
  3. From the list that appears, click Lock Meeting.

When a meeting is locked, no one else can join the session, regardless of having a meeting password. Neither the host, nor co-host will be alerted if someone attempts to enter a locked meeting, but you can follow steps above to unlock the meeting and allow additional participants in the meeting.