Login problem " We detected an unusual sign-in from a device or location you don't usually use."

[ECSBC]

We are a small non-profit with a Zoom Pro account that we share amongst different people.  That is, we have a number of different meetings all owned by the same Zoom account, but  different people run them and all those people have a need to log into Zoom using our one Zoom Pro account in order to run the meeting as Host..    Let's say that the one Zoom account is "***********" and note that one person only can log into that email.

Today, for the first time, someone got the message, "We detected an unusual sign-in from a device or location you don't usually use. If this was you, enter the code below to sign in to Zoom"  and, of course, Zoom sent the code to *********** but the person running the meeting was not the person who has access to the email!

You see the problem.  How can we turn off that security email?  I am aware that if we enable 2 Factor Authentication the verification email will not be used - but I don't think that solves our problem because each of the people who might need to run the meeting has to have access to that same 2FA SMS phone number or authenticator - so 2FA isn't going to work either.

We want to turn off that security email.  How can we do it?  This is a big issue for use as you can imagine.

[Alex_PFT · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Good question, we already asked and they don't want to say for security reasons. 

Alex

zoom@pft

[ECSBC · Accepted solution]

The workaround that I described in my post from ‎2022-05-09 12:42 PM works.  We had the situation where a login triggered the security check and the that email from Zoom was detected by my gmail rule and sent to all of our Zoom administrators via a group distribution list I created called zoom-authenticators@......   You can see this in screen shot I attached

[Pathfinders]

We experienced that very same problem this past Saturday. Our set up is similar and if I hadn't been available our meeting would not have happened. We also want to know how to turn off this setting.

[Trainer1]

Trainer1

Observer

Options

‎2022-05-10 07:17 AM

I've been having the same issue

You need to disable the Personal Room passcode as his instructions below

This has fixed the issue for me 

JulianH said....

"My issue was initially due to an integration with a new CRM. I worked with the support team at Zoom and they were able to resolve it. It took some troubleshooting, but everything has been working perfectly for the past 3 months. I have the communication threads saved. I believe this is what ultimately fixed the issue: 

Can you please go to this link https://us02web.zoom.us/profile/setting and disable Personal Meeting ID (PMI) Passcode. Also, disable the same feature on this link https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting#/pmi/9254513183.  
Once done, you may lock the setting under your account settings - https://us02web.zoom.us/account/setting and then logout and log back in to your zoom app, calendar integrations and 17hats as well.

[BBS]

Unfortunately, we also have this problem and need a way to switch it off as soon as possible. We use multiple accounts and require this feature to be turned off on all accounts.

Ask for a quick answer

Thank you very much...

[Trainer1]

I've been having the same issue

You need to disable the Personal Room passcode as his instructions below

This has fixed the issue for me 

JulianH said....

"My issue was initially due to an integration with a new CRM. I worked with the support team at Zoom and they were able to resolve it. It took some troubleshooting, but everything has been working perfectly for the past 3 months. I have the communication threads saved. I believe this is what ultimately fixed the issue: 

Can you please go to this link https://us02web.zoom.us/profile/setting and disable Personal Meeting ID (PMI) Passcode. Also, disable the same feature on this link https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting#/pmi/9254513183.  
Once done, you may lock the setting under your account settings - https://us02web.zoom.us/account/setting and then logout and log back in to your zoom app, calendar integrations and 17hats as well.

[Alex_PFT]

Yes we have the same problem with several of our sub-accounts, it's a new security feature that was introduced a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately the official answer by Zoom is that account sharing is not permitted, so they will not support that, or offer a way to prevent that. If someone has a way to help with this, please share 😉 .

Alex

zoom@pft

[ECSBC]

Alex, do you have a link that states Zoom's position on this?

[Alex_PFT]

Solved: Account sharing - Zoom Community

Alex

zoom@pft

[rmca10]

We also have the same issue. Does anyone know how long the verification lasts once the code is used?  So if one of our trainers logged in using the verification code we give them (received to the main email address) would this verification last for a day? a month? 6 months? 

[Alex_PFT · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Good question, we already asked and they don't want to say for security reasons. 

Alex

zoom@pft

[corynott]

Zoom has a terrible account setup. It is not even good for a small enterprise. This is why I gave them a poor recommendation for enterprise use. They should take a cue from programs like LogMein or others that have multiple users for one account and any use can do whatever is needed depending on their access level. 

[ECSBC]

Thank you, Alex.  I think we're all screwed.  I don't have a decent solution to this.

[ECSBC]

I have a workaround that should work though I haven't really tested it enough to work out any kinks.  It's a kludge but it will work, depending on what email client you're using.  We have Gmail for Google Workspace and here's the workaround. 

1.  Take a look at the screenshot I attached, it's of the authentication email Zoom sent out.

2. Set up a distribution list in your email system of everyone who might need that security code.  Call it zoom-list@.......  You'll need one of these for every shared Zoom  account.  

3.  Let's say your Zoom account is myzoom@.......   Log into myzoom and create a filter as follows:

• from no-reply@........
• subject contains "Code for signing in to Zoom"
• forward to zoom-list@.......

Now, whenever someone tries to log in as myzoom@..... and gets that message, Zoom will send the code to myzoom and it will be forwarded to everyone who needs it.  I said it was a kludge!

Obviously, it's dependent on the specific subject line but and if they change that the filter has to change - but that's not too hard.

Anyway, that's my workaround

[NSCT]

Hi,

We are having the same problem, and I like your work around. But can't the same thing be accomplished by using the zoom account setting "Who will receive security communications from Zoom" to add additional recipients for these alerts?  Any insight about this is much appreciated!

Updated 6/10/22: The setting described above to send "security communications" to additional recipients apparently doesn't include emails containing verification codes for unusual sign-ins. When I used the setting, none of the additional recipients received them.

[Alex_PFT]

It would also be a good and less complicated idea just to log in with a Google or Facebook  account. Creating a new account and sharing the password is easy with those two. Zoom is not asking for verification code when you log in that way. 

[NSCT]

Hi Alex_PFT,

Hmm...interesting. I have seen that you can sign in with either Google or Facebook, but have never done it. Can you help me understand how it would work?

Right now, our zoom pro account email is a gmail account. But, since we don't want to give out the password for that account to all our meeting hosts, would we have to create a different gmail account/password and give those credentials out to the hosts? If so, we would have to set up our meetings again in the new account which would have different meeting ids from what we are using now. Or is it possible to somehow migrate meetings from one account to another? It would be problematic for us to switch meeting ids.

Thank you for your help!

[Alex_PFT]

Hi,

The whole point of this thread is because people share their PRO account username & password, and that is problematic because they log in from different location/device, and that is why it is triggering the verification code. If you're not sharing your account, what kind of problem do you have?

[NSCT]

Sorry to be confusing!  We DO share the Zoom account, and meeting hosts sign in to Zoom using our gmail address and the Zoom password.  What we don't want to give out is the gmail password. 

[ECSBC]

I think what you'd have to do is create a new gmail account that was only used for this purpose so it would be safe to share the credentials.  Of course, I think gmail might notice the different devices logging in and also require a security check.

[ECSBC]

NSCT: That's an interesting idea!  I didn't know there was such settings.  They have two settings:

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/4405013528333-Assigning-users-to-receive-security-emails-f....

• How to add recipients to receive security communications from Zoom
• How to add recipients to receive Trust and Safety communications from Zoom

I guess to be safe you'd do both.  

The odd thing is, we still share our account but haven't had this problem since it first surfaced.  I wish I had a way to cause the problem with certainty so I could test this out.

[ECSBC]

Hi NSCT listener, I just saw your update from 6/10/22.  Thank you very much for the update, I was thinking of trying that feature but didn't have the time or energy to test it thouroughly.

I can tell you that my work-around absolutely works and has saved our butts several times.

David

[libchiak]

Hi ECSBC,

how did you create the email address for your distribution group in gmail? I only see an option to create a label but that is not helpful since I can't forward emails to  a group / label.

thank you for sharing.

[ECSBC]

<<how did you create the email address for your distribution group in gmail?>>

We're in a Google Workspace environment.  From the Google Workspace Admin Console you can create a "Group" and add emails to it.  They don't have to be gmail emails, either, though there's a setting you need to turn on to allow external emails.

[NSCT]

Hi ECSBC,

I tried your workaround to have gmail forward verification code emails to meeting hosts, and it works perfectly for us! Thank you!

[Kaitlyn123]

I am experiencing this exact problem as well at the moment and do not know a solution around it!  I have reached out but no response.

[Trainer1]

I've been having the same issue

You need to disable the Personal Room passcode as his instructions below

This has fixed the issue for me 🙂

JulianH said....

"My issue was initially due to an integration with a new CRM. I worked with the support team at Zoom and they were able to resolve it. It took some troubleshooting, but everything has been working perfectly for the past 3 months. I have the communication threads saved. I believe this is what ultimately fixed the issue: 

Can you please go to this link https://us02web.zoom.us/profile/setting and disable Personal Meeting ID (PMI) Passcode. Also, disable the same feature on this link https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting#/pmi/9254513183.  
Once done, you may lock the setting under your account settings - https://us02web.zoom.us/account/setting and then logout and log back in to your zoom app, calendar integrations and 17hats as well.

[ECSBC]

Trainer1: I don't understand your second step,

Also, disable the same feature on this link https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting#/pmi/9254513183.

That link just takes me a to a list of all my meetings - is that supposed to be a particular meeting of yours, ie meeting id 9254513183?    When I look in one of my meetings I don't even see an option for that feature (we don't rely on personal meeting ids anyway, we always generate a new one).

David

[LisaSp]

We already have the Personal Meeting ID (PMI) Passcode disabled, and we still have the problem. That can't be the cause.

[ECSBC]

I'm inclined to agree with LisaP.  We don't use it either and we have the problem.  

Trainer1: you wrote that you don't have the problem anymore, but that could just because everyone's using their regular, previously authenticated PCs.  I think you'd need to test this by logging into Zoom on a machine you know to be "fresh" ie, not previously used to log into Zoom.

David

[hkobrien]

We also already have the Personal Meeting ID (PMI) Passcode feature disabled and still have this issue. We run an organization that leads virtual peer support groups that are led by our volunteers. We have over 50 volunteers running groups, so the fact that Zoom's solution is for us to purchase 50 pro Zoom accounts for each of these individual users, many of which may go months without utilizing the accounts at all is absurd and out of touch.  Zoom, y'all need to figure out how to resolve issues like this, or a lot of organizations will likely take their business elsewhere. We're providing supportive mental health services through Zoom, so when an issue like this may mean that a group of people doesn't get the dire support they're in need of, we take that pretty seriously. Please provide a solution to this problem. 

[ArielP9]

We are in a similar situation and this feature has been a disaster for us this week. I'm furious at Zoom, there really should be a way to turn the security feature off. I'm wondering if you have figured out a solution for your organization yet??

[ECSBC]

ArielP9:

If you look through the posts there is one work-around that I posted and which absolutely works (search for "kludge") and you'll find it - there's a second post with that word where I verify that it worked. 

There is also a post by NSCT who proposes using a setting that controls who gets security alerts.  This sounds like it will work, maybe better than my work-around, but I have not tested it.  The devil is in the details, and until you can test it, you don't really know if it will work.

David

[ECSBC]

FYI, it's a complete mystery to me why Zoom decides to trigger this warning for some people but not others.  I just tried logging into Zoom using a brand new iPad which had never before logged into Zoom and I did not get the warning!  On the other had, one of my colleagues logged in using her regular device, one that she uses for Zoom at least monthly, and she did get the warning.  Makes no sense.

By the way, my workaround using email forwarding does work.

David

[Alex_PFT]

From what we understand so far, time between connections & difference in location will trigger the code verification.

Alex

zoom@pft

[ECSBC]

Alex: That's what I'd think but when I tried logging in from a fresh iPad which had never before been used to log into Zoom it did not trigger the verification.  I don't understand it.

David

[rmca10]

I got the following message from the support desk.... Rommel Castro (Zoom) May 11, 2022, 0:21 GMT+1 Hi,   Thanks for the reply. Our Engineering team has disabled the One Time Pin on all accounts for now. You should now be able to login without being prompted for the One Time Pin.   However, I would recommend enabling the 2FA for the account for additional security as well as our Engineering team may enable the feature again in the future as a security requirement.   Note: If two-factor authentication is disabled, users with a work email login type are required to enter a time-based one-time password (OTP) sent to their email if Zoom detects an unusual login from a different country or device than normal.   More information here : https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/360038247071-Managing-two-factor-authentication-2FA-   Thanks, Rommel

[Alex_PFT]

I'm a bit confused about the ''one time code''. Are we still talking about the verification code? If so it's not one time at all ?!

Also, when they say it was disable for all accounts, I guess that is in your organization, and not for ALL Zoom users? How did you get them to do that?

Thanks. 

Alex

zoom@pft

[ECSBC]

I'm with you, Alex - CONFUSED.  

And what does Rommel mean, "If two-factor authentication is disabled, users with a work email login type are required to enter a time-based one-time password (OTP) sent to their email if Zoom detects an unusual login from a different country or device than normal."

What's a "work type login?"  Do they mean not a gmail, yahoo, outlook, etc. email?  Very confusingn.

David
 

[rmca10]

I have had confirmation back that it is for all accounts:

Message from Zoom support:

Thanks for the reply. This is for all Accounts on Zoom. 
 
This will also be posted on our Release notes if it will be reactivated again : https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/categories/4415113014797-Release-Notes

[BelenICs_2022]

Ive been reading the answers to this problem and ,

1) the disable personal ID doesnt work for me

2) i get the new code, use it, everything ok, and if i log off of zoom and turn back in 1 minute with same computer, It asks me for a new  *&@#!!!  code again,

Not new device, not new location.

I see last updates in the forum are 15 days ago... so i suppose  no  new clues?