Starting July 1st CCS will be implementing some advanced security settings to ensure the safety and security of our meetings, events and classes. Most of these settings have been made mandatory by Zoom already (May) but large corporate accounts and education accounts were left to implement additional security measures on their own as to not interfere with established practices. CCS made some features optional and most Zoom users took advantage of them but starting July CCS will make most of these security features mandatory to align ourselves with Zoom’s best practices documentation. Zoom has a good article here on what they forced onto non-corporate accounts on May 9th.
CCS’s changes will be in line with the changes outlined in the Zoom bulletin as well as some other settings particular to CCS. Some of these are background changes that won’t affect user’s day to day use, others will alter how you use Zoom going forward. These include:
Want to see how to change your Passcode? Check out this CCS eLearning video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a3wJSMf60Q&feature=youtu.be
Additional updates in bold - 7/7/20
Addition updates 9/2020 - 'Passcode' is used by Zoom to replace 'meeting password', language has been updated.
All Scheduled Meetings will have a Passcode.
When you go to schedule a meeting through the Zoom application or on the Zoom website, you will have a mandatory passcode(numeric). This will be generated randomly, but you can change it to any passcode you like for that event, a numeric Passcode of 6 characters is required. When you schedule your meeting and the URL/Link and the Calendar invite is created, the link will have the passcode embedded (but hidden. If you limit the sharing of the link to your target audience, this is generally a safe method. Additionally, in the invite that is generated and then shared out (you copy paste and create an Outlook meeting, etc.), the details of the meeting will be spelled out, including the traditional numeric Meeting ID and the Pascode, in plain text. This may come in handy if someone has the invite on paper but can’t easily type the Passcode encrypted link on their phone, etc. They simple go to Zoom.us, Join a meeting, enter the numeric Meeting ID then enter the Passcode when prompted.
How will this affect my calendar invitations when scheduling meetings?
If you already have a Passcode or Waiting Room on, there will be no change to how you schedule meetings.
If Passcodes are added, calendar invites for any existing meeting will need to be resent to include the Passcode. New meetings will have the Passcode embedded in the meeting link automatically.
Personal Meeting ID (PMI) will have a Passcode.
Same details as above, but since this is a ‘standing meeting’ with the same Meeting ID, you can change this Passcode via – www.zoom.us or https://ccs-spokane.zoom.us, sign into Zoom, choose Meetings on the left (if not visible, choose Schedule a Meeting on the upper right first, then Meetings on the left), across the top menu, choose Personal Meeting Room. If you scroll to the bottom you can choose Edit and make permanent changes to your PMI that carry forward each time you schedule using your PMI.
Instant Meeting/Start Meeting will have a Passcode.
In the Zoom application users can start an instant (ad-hoc) meeting and enter it themselves, then from Zoom send invites or invite attendees through another method like chat, txt, etc. This is an extension of your PMI and follows the same rules so this meeting type will have your PMI passcode.
Phone dialing for all Zoom meetings will have a Passcode.
Zoom offers toll calling options for meetings. Going forward, all call-in options will have a passcode that matches the Zoom meeting’s general passcode. This will be in the Meeting invite produced after a scheduler completes the Zoom schedule form. This will need to be shared with those users that may be calling in on the phone. Scheduler’s can always go back their scheduled event and retrieve this information if required.
Authenticated Users is now an option.
When scheduling a meeting, under Meeting Options there is a checkbox to allow only authenticated users to join your meeting. By default, this box is unchecked which means your meeting security is reliant on the Password protocols put into place and how widely the password encrypted link is shared. If you would like to ensure even more security or to limit your meeting to specific groups, you can check the box and choose from the groups in the dropdown.
Choosing one of these will limit your attendees to one of these groups (we may add more groups if the need arises). Users with active accounts using their @sfcc @ccs @scc email are Faculty and Staff, Students are active accounts using @Bigfoot email addresses. The third option is any user that has registered with Zoom with a valid email and either has a free account, a paid account or is tied to some other corporate or educational account. This last one is not as secure but does require the users to have active accounts and, in that regard, there is some ability to work with Zoom and ID an account, if we have interruptions or inappropriate behavior. Zoom for personal use is Free and for a Parent/Teacher conference or new student orientation – this approach might offer a higher level of security. Just have non-CCS attendees sign up first for the free Zoom account.
For class instruction or for trainings or meetings that require some sort of rollcall or attendance, having user’s login and attend as themselves can help with that. Faculty looking to isolate their classes to students signed in, using their real names can turn that first option on and then make sure that students are signing up to Zoom, with their Bigfoot accounts. More information on that here.
Waiting Room is on, but not forced on.
CCS will differ from Zoom in this one approach – since CCS uses large scale video conferencing equipment and some instructors or meeting organizers are connecting to classes and meetings from these devices, we can’t lock on Waiting Rooms as Zoom is suggesting. However, if you are connecting and hosting from your desktop or home office and will not be in a Polycom space, you can still engage the Waiting Room if desired. This Polycom restriction only applies to the host and if the host is attending the meeting from a Polycom equipped room.