IT News

Zoom Updates: New Features (Live Transcription!); Preventing Against Zoom bombing; and a Reminder About Updating Software


Live Transcription
Information Technology is pleased to share that Zoom now offers live closed captioning. This means that you can have live captions in your synchronous Zoom classes, meetings, or anytime you use Zoom.

Visit the Closing Captioning section of our Zoom article in the IT Wiki for instructions on how you can enable captioning on Zoom meetings that you host.

Preventing Zoom Bombing
Recent news reports have indicated that New Jersey colleges and universities are seeing an uptick in Zoom bombing intrusions of online meetings and events held via Zoom.

We encourage faculty and staff using Zoom Information Technology to review Zoom's Best Practices for Securing Your Zoom Meetings guide for in-depth detail on how to best secure your Zoom meetings and prevent these types of incidents.

Key takeaways include:

  • Never share a Zoom meeting link on a publicly viewable website or social media channel
  • Use Waiting Rooms to review attendees before starting meetings
  • Familiarize yourself with Zoom's Security controls

Also note, Zoom has recently rolled out an update that allows Zoom meetings using the 'Require Authentication to Join' option to also allow direct invitations to be sent to 'Exception' individuals. If you use the 'Require Authentication to Join' feature for a Zoom meeting, you can invite other individuals to your meeting by clicking on the Add link next to "Authentication Exception' text found under Require Authentication to Join in the Zoom Web Portal when scheduling your meeting.

Keeping Your Zoom Software Up-to-date
Zoom frequently releases updates with new features. To ensure you have access to the most recent features, please be sure to update your installed Zoom version on a regular basis. As with other software available on university computers, Zoom updates are available through the Software Center (on Windows computers) or Managed Software Center (on Macs).
 
Please contact Information Technology if you have any questions by calling the Help Desk at 973-720-4357 or by creating a ticket at www.wpunj.edu/help For Zoom questions, use the ticket request type Software and the sub-ticket request type Web Conferencing Tools Zoom/Webex/Teams.

February 28, 2021