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 disruptions to 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 using a 'Join' link invitation. See guidance:

How to avoid disruptions to your events

Only allow authenticated users to join your Zoom meetings

You can now enable a feature which only allows authenticated users (those 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 must sign in with an email address.

To find out more, see below:

"Important Info About Your Zoom Sign In" page

Be aware of your surroundings for video calls with Zoom

To avoid potential privacy harm or data leaks, ensure that you're aware of what will be visible in your background during a Zoom video call. This may be a colleague working behind you in an open plan office or a whiteboard or screen showing information.  Zoom allows you to blur or replace your background to protect your privacy and others'.

Before joining a meeting

• We recommend joining the Virtual Private Network (VPN), linked below, to protect your personal IP address details .
• Virtual Private Network (VPN)
• 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 your meeting appointments (e.g. in an Outlook calendar) to "Private".
• Limit who receives the meeting link.
• 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 to 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.
• Participants should not screen-capture during meetings.  
• Use your University 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 linked below:

How to use the Waiting Room feature  

Guidelines about recording meetings

Data Protection

DPIA

A DPIA has been completed at the University of Edinburgh for each of the Online and Digital Events services. Results are visible below:

Zoom DPIA

University Data Protection policy

You can also review the University's policy on Data protection:

Policy and handbook on Data Protection 

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

More information

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

Contact the IS Helpline

Zoom Education (for online meetings only)

We have a Zoom Education license allowing online meetings with up to 300 participants.  To broadcast to a larger audience, eg a webinar with up to 1000 participants, a special license needs to be purchased (See 'Add-on services' below). 

About New Zoom Features Publicly Announced:

Zoom offers many different licenses; not all Zoom features publicly announced are applicable to our subscription license.

• If new features are announced via official channels, a list of eligible Zoom licenses will usually be included.
• It is important that you verify whether features are applicable to our license before considering or requesting them.
• The University of Edinburgh's Zoom license is "Zoom Education". If a new feature article lists Zoom Business or Enterprise, but not Zoom Education, then the feature is not applicable to our subscription.

Enabled/Disabled default features:

To help protect University data and privacy, some features have been enabled whilst others have been deliberately disabled by default for security & privacy.

• Enabled/disabled and locked/unlocked features can be viewed with your account at the Zoom sign-in page (see "Settings").
• Locked features cannot be changed by meeting hosts. A request for change has to be made via IS Helpline to justify unlocking of the feature, as it must first be assessed for security, data protection, and potential impact risk.
• Zoom Education release notes are published by Zoom below:
• Education – Zoom Support  

Add-on services

Webinar licenses

We now have a central billing procedure in place for purchasing webinar licenses for Zoom. If you wish to purchase a webinar license for Zoom, please email your enquiry to is.software.codes@ed.ac.uk. Please specify if you want a 500 or 1000 webinar license. If you need further information on webinar license types, please refer to the help page below:

Registering for Zoom webinars.  

Please note that due to high volumes, the turn-around time for license purchasing is up-to 10 working days, so please purchase well in advance of your planned webinars.

Other add-on licenses

Some add-on services for Zoom are currently unavailable. These require review to establish requirements and plan an appropriate way forward:

• Virtual Room System
• Instant Messaging
• Outlook email integration
• Telephone integration
• Cloud apps integration
• Audio and video meetings for audience sizes larger than 300

The University is currently working on billing options to purchase these add-ons, however, if you require webinars and larger audience sizes now, Blackboard Collaborate is available and free to use. Alternatively, our Online and Digital Events Service can help you choose the right tool for your type of event:

Blackboard Collaborate

Online and Digital Events Tool

University meetings and events platforms (in recommended order)

1. Microsoft Teams: the University's preferred platform, recommended for:

• formal 1-to-1's
• group meetings up to 300 participants
• 'Town Hall' events at no additional cost
• 1000 interactive participants, with overflow live-streaming to 10,000 view-only attendees with Teams Webinars.
• Teams is secure, fully integrated with Office 365, supported on Windows, Mac, Linux, Web, and Mobile. External attendees don't even need a Microsoft account to attend.

2. Blackboard Collaborate: for online teaching and larger group meetings, integrated with Learn.

3. Zoom 

When to use Zoom?

• Zoom should be used as a final alternative to one of the other meeting platforms listed above.
• When it is the required platform for conducting, for example, University-related research and collaboration.
• When no sensitive, confidential, or personally-identifiable University material is being discussed.
• For general, informal, non-teaching audio/video communication.

Why use the University's Zoom service?

• There is no 40-minute time limit on meetings.
• It will support up to 300 participants, with the ability to purchase add-on licenses for large meetings of 500 or 1000 participants.
• The University applies extra security measures over and above a basic Zoom account.
• Single Sign-On (SSO) allows you to sign in with Your University Login.
• Allows Information Services to support your account.
• Supports up to 100 breakout rooms.