zoom bomber flashers

[philipa474]

Has anyone found a solution to zoom bombers repeatedly bombing a meeting while flashing?

[ExpertswhoJohn]

Hi @philipa474 

I am sorry you have had this.  The solution is at two levels.

1. How are they finding your meeting and the information on how to connect? - If you allow the meeting id and password to be public, then you are giving them the chance to join.
I always have registration for public meetings. This does not stop, but does deter them.
If they register within one hour then by default they will be able to connect directly.

2. When in the meeting
Once a person Is in the meetings, do you take any action to validate who everyone is?
You can stop cameras and only allow those you recognise and know.

Do not allow screen share, I understand they will try and take control of this.
When you get a bomber the acts the security she'd button has an action "suspend all activities" which will stop everything and allow you to take control.
Have you used the waiting room to check people before admitting them?

My experiences.
I run many public meetings every week, and we have many guests we don't know. And then  I have to decide if I was in a physical room with them, would I want them there? I find that interacting with them at the start of the meeting usually scares them off.


in summary, if you publically share, or a member of the meeting shares the link, they can get in.

[philipa474]

I appreciate your getting back to me.

1.  Understood.  It's a public meeting and no one is required to register.

2. People may enter the meeting except when the waiting room is being used.  Not allowing cameras might be a solution but it has unwanted consequences,

The zoom bombers seem to go from meeting to meeting and may pop in unexpectedly in the middle of the meeting.  The question is once the zoom bombers are in the meeting and flashing everyone (and the problem is addressed reactively after the damage is done) is there a way to (proactively) discourage them from continuing this behavior and to make it more difficult for this behavior to proliferate as it currently seems to be.

[distinguished]

We want the public to attend. I have been able to kick out trouble makers in the past, but these guys moved the squares around my screen quickly, and resequenced the list of participants. How were they able to do this? Can we stop them from doing this? Can the host turn off cameras for people coming in from the waiting the room, and keep them off?  Thanks! Jim Samuel 908-421-6151

[SunshineMoon]

They don't move the squares around, they literally take over virtual backgrounds; they hack in to the backgrounds and profile photos, they take over the white boards, and change names on the screens.  You can stop them, by having strict in meeting settings and members who are not afraid to turn a camera off, or help people unmute, etc.  I don't know if I can post links here, but there is a zoom guide floating around the SF Bay Area AA and Al-Anon community that might be helpful for you.

[ExpertswhoJohn]

Hi @philipa474 ,

Make sure you report them on Zoom which will alert certain controls from Zoom.
But, like all online platforms, people cause trouble when they think they can get away with it.

[philipa474]

I appreciate it.

What does reporting them do?

There should be a way of creating a cost for this behavior.  The bombers are imposing a charge on the meeting users.  If they were doing this in-person, there would be a consequence.

[ExpertswhoJohn · Accepted solution]

Reporting can get them blocked by Zoom, but like in any other online app, if they connect with a new login, Zoom will not be able to recognise them.

As Hosts, we must take some responsiblity for giving a process for joining that makes it hard for zoom bombers to attend.
This includes
* Not sharing the zoom link with password publically
* Use waiting room to verifiy visitors
* Remember that if you share a registration, default settings allow poeple to fill anything in the registration and then see the link to he meeting on the screen.
* Dont use a repeated meeting link "for ever", change the password after some time.

John Drinkwater

[philipa474]

Noted.  In our meeting we implemented a requirement to join from a zoom account and we haven't had a zoom bombing that I'm aware of since then.

[SunshineMoon]

Isn't not sharing the zoom information a violation of traditions? Isn't the meeting to be accessible to anyone who needs a meeting? 

[SunshineMoon]

The most important is no virtual backgrounds (these bombers) are skilled in taking them over and having more than one obsene video playing on multiple screens.  We don't allow profile photos (another way to infiltrate), no screen sharing, no white boards, and no recording allowed. We also keep everyone muted during the meeting, a host or co host has to unmute them.