Below are instructions for the use of Zoom for virtual meetings and remote work, including security and telehealth guidelines, links to helpful resources and best practices for your meetings.

Each agency department has a Zoom host account which can be used to schedule and host meetings with more than two attendees.  If your department does not have an account please email the Help Desk to request one be created.

Zoom User Guide

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Visit the Zoom Help Center for additional information and support.

Helpful Links:

IT Support

OneDrive & SharePoint

Remote Work Policy & Agreement

Tools for Working Remotely

Agency Coronavirus Updates

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Securing Your Zoom Meetings

In light of recent security concerns with the Zoom video conferencing platform and in accordance with their recommended guidelines, we have made changes to the default settings for every agency account. We encourage every agency employee to do everything possible to secure their meetings, participants, and data, and recommend the following methods.  If you are discussing any sensitive or confidential information in your meetings, these security measures become especially important.

See our Guide to Securing Zoom Meetings (PDF) for more information.

New Security Icon Options for Meeting Hosts

Beginning with Zoom version 4.6.10, the Zoom client application offers a Security icon. This feature collects a set of useful options in one place.

Hosts can toggle the following options on or off during meetings. Active features are identified with a checkmark.

  • Lock Meeting
    When a meeting is locked, no new participants can join—even if they are authorized users or have a password.
  • Enable Waiting Room
    When this option is turned on, participants are placed in a virtual waiting room until admitted by the host.
  • Remove Participant
    Dismiss a participant from the meeting. The removed individual cannot rejoin the meeting unless you have enabled Allow Participants and Panelists to rejoin in your account settings.
  • Allow participants to:
    • Share Screen
      Turning this option off prevents participants other than the host from sharing their screens.
    • Chat
      Turning this option off prevents participants other than the host from using the Chat feature.
    • Rename Themselves
      Turning this option off prevents participants from renaming themselves in the meeting.
    • Annotate on Shared Content
      Turning this option off prevents participants other than the host  from using annotation tools such as Draw, Stamp, Spotlight, Text, and Erase when screen sharing is used.

See Managing participants in a meeting and Host and Co-Host Controls in a Meeting for more information.

Enable the Waiting Room Feature

The Waiting Room feature allows the host to control when each participant joins the meeting. As the meeting host, you can admit attendees one by one or all at once.

Disable Join Before Host

If you are scheduling a meeting where sensitive information will be discussed, it’s best to leave Enable join before host (found under Meeting Options when scheduling a meeting) turned off. Visit Zoom’s Join Before Host help page for more information.

The Join Before Host option can be convenient for allowing others to continue with a meeting if you are not available to start it, but with this option enabled, the first person who joins the meeting will automatically be made the host and will have full control over the meeting.

Another option is to assign an Alternative Host.

It’s still possible for a meeting to start without you (the host) even if Join Before Host is disabled. If you have given someone Scheduling Privilege, which allows them to schedule meetings on your behalf, then when that person joins a meeting before you, the meeting will begin and they will be made the host. This is typically not a problem, as the recommendation to disable Join Before Host is based on preventing unwanted/uninvited participants from hijacking a meeting. After you join, the role of Host can be reassigned to you.

Meeting passwords are required

Attendees will need to enter this password to enter the meeting whether joining by computer, mobile device or phone. You’ll need to communicate your password to them.

  • Embed password in meeting link for one-click join
    When this is turned on, the link you send out has an encrypted version of the password included, so attendees can join immediately without entering the password or going into a waiting room.  Be aware that anyone who has the full link with the encrypted password can join your meeting, so you should still not share a meeting link publicly, particularly on social media.
Mute all participants

Mute all participants that are already in the meeting and new participants joining the meeting through Manage Participants. You will be asked to confirm if you’d like to allow participants to unmute themselves. You can choose to uncheck this option. See Mute All And Unmute All for more information.

Limit Screen Sharing to the Host

By default, screen sharing in Zoom meetings is limited to the host. You can change this if you need to allow other attendees to share their screens. If you make this change and decide to return to having screen sharing be limited to the host, while in your meeting:

  1. Click the up-arrow next to Share Screen.
  2. Select Advanced Sharing Options.
  3. Under Who can share, click Only Host.

This won’t be appropriate when multiple participants will need to share and collaborate, but this restriction prevents unwanted attendees from interrupting the meeting with intrusive sharing.

Remove a Participant from a Zoom Meeting

If you have already begun a session and find an unwanted attendee has joined:

  1. If the Participants panel is not visible, click Manage Participants at the bottom of the Zoom window.
  2. Next to the person you want to remove, click More.
  3. From the list that appears, click Remove.
Lock Your Meeting

The recently added Security icon menu lets hosts quickly and easily lock a meeting by clicking the option there. When a meeting is locked, no one can join, and you (the host or co-host) will NOT be alerted if anyone tries to join, so don’t lock the meeting until everyone has joined.

Zoom hosts can still lock the meeting using the Zoom Host Controls as well. Once all your attendees have joined,

  1. If the Participants panel is not visible, click Manage Participants at the bottom of the Zoom window.
  2. At the bottom of the Participants panel, click More.
  3. From the list that appears, click Lock Meeting.

Unlock the meeting following these same steps.

Disable File Transfer

Ensure that participants are not allowed to share files in the in-meeting chat during the meeting by disabling file transfer in Settings. See In-Meeting File Transfer for more information.

Zoom for TeleHealth

Zoom may be used with some types of sensitive data, including Protected Health Information (PHI/HIPAA). You are responsible for taking the necessary precautions to secure your meetings and use Zoom appropriately with sensitive agency data. Data confidentiality is protected through a combination of end-to-end encryption at the start of every Zoom session, strong access control, and other protection measures, including in-meeting controls.

Available Features for PHI/HIPAA Compliance

Some of the standard features available to agency users have been modified, limited, or disabled.  Settings that have been locked by the agency account administrator cannot be changed. Settings that are not locked may be changed (enabled or disabled) per meeting at your discretion.

Meeting Control & Privacy

  • Meetings are not listed publicly.
  • Meeting access is password protected.

Screen Sharing

  • During a meeting, you will be able to screen share information (whether PHI or not).
  • Screen sharing transmits encrypted screen capture data, including mouse and keyboard strokes.

Capturing & Recording

  • Cloud recording is disabled. When recording a meeting, you are only allowed to record to your local device.
  • The ability to take screen captures of a meeting is disabled.

Reporting

  • During a meeting, you will be able to see each attendee’s name or IP address. When the meeting has ended, you will no longer have the ability to see an attendee’s name or IP address.
  • After a meeting has ended, you will only be able to see:
    • The time the meeting took place.
    • The name/title of the meeting.
    • The time each attendee joined the meeting. You will not be able to see each attendee’s name.

Chat Messaging

  • All chat messages are encrypted.
  • Chat messages will not be saved after a meeting.

Zoom Best Practices

  • Fully remote meetings tend to be easier to manage than blended on-site and virtual meetings, mostly due to the quality of audio.  Consider which approach makes the most sense for our team.  If multiple people are required to be in attendance in one location, practice social distancing of at least 6 feet between each person.
  • Add a Zoom option to all meetings proactively.
  • Add a secondary host that can start the meeting in the event the host is running late or their availability has changed.
  • Determine what information should be shared with participants in advance of the meeting, provide an agenda, and determine how decisions and follow-up will be communicated to those absent.
  • Encourage participants to log in early and test their audio/video settings.  Consider practicing remote meetings, particularly with employees who do not generally work remotely.  Remind attendees to be patient, as employees unfamiliar with the platform and audio/video settings may have questions.
  • Encourage participants to mute themselves to reduce background noise when they are not speaking.  The host(s) can also mute participants.
  • Announce who is in the room (if an on-site option is also available) and be clear about when the meeting has ended.  Make sure to continuously check in with those who are remote to make sure they are included (e.g., “Does anyone online have any questions/comments?”).
  • For meetings where participation is essential, consider using the “raise hand” feature to help manage who will speak when. It can be difficult even with video to tell when someone is about to finish speaking, or is waiting to speak.
  • When using video, be thoughtful about where you are participating from and the setup.  For instance, what individuals can see behind you, what noises they might hear from household members and pets, is ample lighting available, etc.