The default settings of Zoom do not require a password in order to join a meeting. When a meeting ID becomes public, or is randomly guessed, this can result in unwanted participants joining your meeting and possibly disrupting that meeting.


  • The most effective way to prevent these disturbances is to require a password to join your Zoom meetings. When doing so, be sure to distribute the password to the meeting participants prior to the start of the meeting.
  • Please consult this guidance from CUIT and CTL: Security and Privacy in Zoom

  • One common way in which this can become a problem is if an unwanted participant shares disruptive content on their screen.

    • To prevent participants from screen sharing:
      1. In the host controls, click the arrow next to Share Screen and click Advanced Sharing Options.
      2. Under Who can share? choose Only Host.
      3. Close the window.
    • If you have prevented participants from screen sharing, you may still allow a participant to temporarily share their screen by making them a co-host:
    • There are two ways that you can make a user a co-host.
      • In the meeting, the host hovers over the user's video, clicks on the three dots and chooses Make Co-Host.
      • Alternatively, the host can make another participant a co-host through the Participants window.
        1. Click on Manage Participants in the meeting controls at the bottom of the Zoom window.
        2. Hover over the name of the participant who is going to be a co-host, and choose More.
        3. Click Make Co-Host.

  • Further and more detailed information is available on this CUIT page under the heading of Security and Privacy 
  • Step-by-step instructions for many of these security and privacy features are provided in this PDF covering methods to prevent so-called "zoom bombing"