Zoom

Security

With video-conferencing services coming under close scrutiny recently, Information Services has worked closely with Zoom to make available an enterprise version of their service that complies with strict University security and privacy policies. Meeting hosts must still, however, make sure participants adhere to the following guidelines:

Help avoid 'Zoom Bombing' of your meetings

The biggest cause of unwelcome disruption to an online meeting or event is because of sharing the link to join the meeting out on social media platforms.  This isn't unique to just Zoom, it applies to any online meeting platform allowing anyone with the join link (an invitation) to access the meeting.   You must follow these simple steps to avoid unwelcome disruptions (zoom bombing) to your events

Only allow authenticated users to join your Zoom meetings

You can now enable a feature which only allows authenticated users (users who are logged in to a Zoom account) to join your Zoom meetings. 

This means that there will be no anonymous users in your Zoom meetings, and everyone will have to be signed in with an email address.

To find out more, see our "Authentication in Zoom meetings" page

​​​​​Before joining a meeting

• To protect their personal IP address details, University members are recommended to connect to the Virtual Private Network (VPN) before using Zoom.
• Where possible, meetings should be instigated by a University member rather than an external participant.
• The meeting password MUST be sent separately from the meeting invitation.
• The meeting password MUST NEVER be shared via public social media.
• Set meeting appointments you create (e.g. in an Outlook calendar) to be private.
• Limit who you share the meeting link with.
• Where possible, ensure everyone is using the most up-to-date version of the Zoom desktop or mobile app.

During a meeting

• Use the Waiting Room feature and verify all attendees one-by-one before granting access.
• Recording of meetings to the cloud (the Uni Zoom service) is enabled, but to the local computer is disabled.  Meeting hosts should refer to the guidelines about recording meetings
• Participants should not screen-capture during meetings.  
• University staff or students should not use personal email addresses when registering for, or using, Zoom.  
• No confidential, sensitive or personally-identifiable University information should be discussed or displayed.  

Instructions on each of these steps can be found in the guides below.

Data Protection

DPIA

A DPIA has been completed at the University of Edinburgh for each of the Online and Digital Events services:

Zoom DPIA

University Data Protection policy

You can also review the Universities policy on Data protection:

University of Edinburgh Data Protection Policy

Privacy

Recording Online and Digital Events

Please read the following privacy notices on recording online and digital meetings and events:

Recording privacy statement (external collaborators)

Recording privacy statement (internal – staff and students)

Please also read through the information and guidelines we provide for recording Online and Digital Events:

Guiding Principles - Recording online and digital events

Further Privacy Information

You can also review the University's privacy notices, which apply when using the Online and Digital Events services:

Student Privacy Notices

Employee Privacy Notices

More information

If you have concerns about security, data protection or privacy in Zoom, please contact IS Helpline

In 2021 we updated the University of Edinburgh's Zoom sign-in policy.  The policy is required to support teaching activity through Learn and Zoom but and importantly to avoid University of Edinburgh email addresses from being used with personal Zoom accounts. 

Do I need to take action?  

You don't need to take any action if you're using the University's Zoom account.  

To check if you're using the University of Edinburgh's Zoom account:

1. Open a web browser to https://ed-ac-uk.zoom.us

2. Choose the option to sign-in. 

If you are not prompted by Zoom about using your organisations email address then you're University Zoom account is good to go and you don't need to take any action. If you're prompted by Zoom about using your organisations email address whenever you sign in to Zoom then refer to the information below and follow the steps to resolve this.

If you have a Zoom account through zoom.us that's using your ed.ac.uk sign-in email address:

If you have a Zoom account (free/basic/paid/other) that you access through zoon.us with your ed.ac.uk sign-in email address, then refer to the "Important - Update to Zoom Sign In" page.  You might be prompted by Zoom to change the email address the next time you sign in to the other account.  

Are you experiencing persistent errors when signing in to your University of Edinburgh Zoom account?

If you experience persistent sign-in errors attempting to sign-in to your University of Edinburgh Zoom account, refer to the "Important - Update to Zoom Sign In" page. 

Where can I get help?

For further information, including steps and videos on changing your email address on your other Zoom account, is available on our:

 Important - Update to Zoom Sign In page.