Zoom’s new security features tackle trolls and pesky zoombombers

Video conferencing software maker Zoom is introducing new features to tackle trolls and “zoombombers.”

The company has introduced three new features designed to make it easier to spot and remove meeting disruptors: the ability to pause meetings until malicious actors have been kicked out, a feature that lets users (not just hosts and co-hosts) report annoying callers, and a notifier that scans social media for Zoom meeting links at risk of being bombed.

Under the security icon, users can now take advantage of the “Suspend Participant Activities” option to clear out disruptors before resuming meetings. When the suspend feature is on, all activity will temporarily be paused; it’ll also briefly stop screen sharing and recording activities. The feature should already be available to both free and paid users.

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The ability to report annoying users also resides under the security icon, but it’s worth noting account owners and admins will have to enable the feature from settings. Unlike Suspend Participant Activities, the new reporting feature isn’t enabled by default.

Things get a little more interesting with the new “At-Risk Meeting Notifier.” As previously alluded, the feature will monitor social media and other sites for publicly shared meeting links, and automatically alert admins once a meeting has been deemed at risk of being disrupted.

In addition to sending an email about the risk, the notifier will also provide advice on how to deal with the situation — anything from deleting the meeting and setting up a new one to enabling more robust security settings.

It remains to be seen if the new features will help users avoid disruptors. It’s worth noting that this is hardly the first time Zoom has tried to introduce new functionalities to tackle trolls.

After a series of zoombombings at the beginning of the pandemic, Zoom eventually announced a bunch of new measures aimed at thwarting disruptions, including enhanced security features and an extra verification layer. Still, it seems that didn’t quite resolve the issue.

via Engadget