The video conference service Zoom has appeared in some media reports the last few days. Above all they are discussing security/encryption and the handling of personal data.
Much of what has been written is about Zoom’s “public” service which is used by many private citizens, especially in the US. Stockholm University, like other Nordic universities, buys our Zoom service through Sunet/NORDUnet which is not a part of “public Zoom”. NORDUnet’s Zoom service follows GDPR and other European data protection laws and all data is stored in the EU.


“Secure” meeting

There are a number of functions in Zoom to increase the security of meetings. When you create a meeting, you can chose to create a password that all participants must use to gain access. You can also “lock” the meeting so that only people who’ve been invited can participate.
When you invite people to a meeting, be cognizant of whom joins the meeting and be sure that unwanted guests are handled appropriately (thrown out).
You can also turn on a function that only allows people with University accounts to join your meetings. We recommend that people using Zoom for teaching use this feature because it also improves the performance of “breakout rooms”.

How to turn on this option

  1. Go to https://stockholmuniversity.zoom.us 
  2. Log in with your university account
  3. Click “Settings” in the left-hand navigation menu
  4. Go to “Only authenticated users can join meetings and chose the option that fits your need.


Personal Meeting ID

IT Services advises against using the Personal Meeting ID feature to invite people to meetings. This is because the link is always the same (unless you habitually change it yourself). If you use Personal Meeting ID, anyone who has ever been invited to one of your meetings can connect to any future meeting.
You can stop this if you set a password that you change frequently or by changing the 10 digit “Personal Meeting ID” in your profile or your Zoom client, but our recommendation is that you shouldn’t use the personal meeting ID number and instead generate a new meeting ID when you invite people to meetings.


Security updates for your Zoom client

Make sure you have the latest version of Zoom so that you receive all security updates that are released. Currently these are the appropriate versions:
Windows:
Version 4.6.9 (19253.0401)
macOS:
Version 4.6.9 (19273.0402)
Linux:
Version 3.5.374815.0324


NORDUnet Zoom: GDPR and Privacy Facts
https://support.nordu.net/hc/en-us/articles/360012913660-NORDUnet-Zoom-GDPR-and-Privacy-Facts