[Agvisors] Zoom streakers and bombers - Actions to take

[Rodriguez Lorta, Nancy G - (nancyr)]

Greetings CALES colleagues:

Multiple advising and campus partners recently shared that during the last few weeks, they have seen a significant increase in Zoom bombers and Zoom streakers interrupting drop-in appointment times. This behavior is disruptive and potentially harmful, as it can disseminate inappropriate content and compromise participant safety. Some reported being victims themselves, and shared tips to take and necessary cautions to limit the chance of this continuing. Marla Rodriguez, AZOnline Manager – Student Data, Outreach and Decision Support, kindly compiled a collective list of specific actions that can be taken based on what advising partners have shared and implemented. Hope these help maintain a safe environment for our team and students.

Enable the waiting room: Set up a waiting room for your Zoom meetings to screen participants before admitting them. You can enable this in Zoom by:

  *   Go to your Zoom account settings.

  *   Under the "Security" section, toggle on the "Waiting Room" feature.
  *   This allows you or a co-host to manually admit participants after verifying their identity.
  *   You may want to enable chat within the waiting room to ask qualifying questions before letting participants enter the room.

Suspend participant activities if needed: If a Zoom bomber gets into your meeting, don't panic or immediately end the meeting. Use the "Suspend Participant Activities" feature:

  *   Click on the "Host Tools" shield-shaped icon on your toolbar.
  *   Select "Suspend Participant Activities." - This will pause all video, audio, and screen-sharing for all attendees and return everyone to the waiting room.
  *   From there, you can review the participant list, remove the bomber, and then resume the meeting. Zoom will prevent the removed participant from rejoining on the same device.

You should also be able to report to Zoom from the active meeting as well by following the directions below:

  *   Record the meeting ID and the approximate time of the disruption.
  *   Go to your Zoom dashboard (admin settings) and retrieve the participant information.
  *   Submit this information to Zoom using the in-meeting "Report" feature or to your IT department to have the offender's account investigated and banned.

Verify participants before admission:
To ensure only authorized participants enter, ask participants to provide a valid identifier (i.e. their NetID or name) or ask for qualifying question(s) that verify the person's intent (i.e. what question can I help with today?) through the waiting room chat before allowing them in.

Report to Dean of Students and Office of Public Safety:
File a report with the Dean of Students and Office of Public Safety to ensure that there is a written record of the incident. Data helps inform similarity, trends, and severity between incidents on campus

  *   University of Arizona: Campus Safety & Resources<https://safety.arizona.edu/>
  *   Welcome | Dean of Students Office (arizona.edu)<https://deanofstudents.arizona.edu/>

Provide counseling for affected participants:
If you are disturbed by a Zoom bombing incident and need support, please utilize the counseling resources offered by Life & Work Connections and CALES Student Wellness site. Feeling safe and respected is paramount. Ryan Daily<mailto:rdaily7 at arizona.edu> may have additional resources to share.

  *   Home | Life & Work Connections (arizona.edu)<https://lifework.arizona.edu/>

These tips should mitigate the risk while providing action steps if targeted. Please reach out if you have any questions.  If you have additional tips or solutions we could all implement, please share with the group.  Be safe and stay vigilant everyone!





[The University of Arizona block 'A' logo.]
Nancy Rodriguez Lorta, M.Ed.
Senior Director, Academic Advising & Student Services
CALES Career & Acad Svcs
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

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