The information below was sent to U-M IT groups via email on March 31, 2020. It is intended for all members of the university community.
We have been hearing concerns about Zoombombing and are providing the information below to help members of the university community protect their Zoom meetings. Please share it with others in your unit as needed.
About Zoombombing
Universities across the country are reporting instances of "Zoombombing," in which people use Zoom's screen sharing feature to share inappropriate and disuptive content like pornography or violent or racist imagery. See the references below for articles about the issue.
Zoom includes a number of settings and features that meeting hosts can use to protect their meeting participants from Zoombombing and to protect their privacy.
Secure Your Zoom Meetings
ITS provides guidance for securing your Zoom meetings. Zoom encourages meeting hosts to limit sharing of meeting links, manage screen sharing, manage participant options, and more to ensure a positive experience for all.
Zoombombing Violates U-M Policy
Zoombombing is a violation of these U-M policies:
- Responsible Use of Information Resources (SPG 601.07)
- Statement of Student Rights and Responsibilities
If you see an instance of Zoombombing at U-M, report it to security@umich.edu.
References
- Beware Zoom Users: Here’s How People Can ‘Zoom-Bomb’ Your Chat (Forbes, 3/27/20)
- What is Zoombombing? How to stop trolls from crashing your video conference (Pocket-lint, 3/26/20)
- Zoombombing’ Attacks Disrupt Classes (Inside Higher Ed, 3/26/20)
- As Zoom Booms, Incidents of ‘ZoomBombing’ Become a Growing Nuisance (Threat Post, 3/26/20)
- Zoombombing’ disrupts online classes at University of Southern California (The Washington Post, 3/25/20)
- How to prevent your Zoom meetings being Zoom-bombed (gate-crashed) by trolls (ZDNet, 3/23/20)
- How to Keep the Party Crashers from Crashing Your Zoom Event (Zoom Blog, 3/20/20)