There have been a number of reported incidents of ‘Zoombombing’ as well as other security and privacy issues reported around Zoom in recent weeks.

In some cases this has caused significant distress to staff and students who have attended the online meeting where illegal and offensive information has been shared.

Microsoft Teams is the University’s solution for video calling, hosting online meetings, live online teaching, webinars, and for creating collaborative team spaces in which you can keep in contact with colleagues, students and others. Online meeting spaces are associated with Lancaster IT accounts and are secure by default, not permitting people from outside the University to join unless they are specifically approved. A series of online training sessions are running to help support colleagues using these different features in Teams. View information, training and help for Teams.

Zoom should not be used except in cases where a member of staff has a University licence for Zoom Pro. Licenced users are responsible for ensuring that Zoom meetings are set up with appropriate security and privacy settings. For example, ensuring only the presenter can share their screen and ensuring protections are in place which prevent unintended users from joining. View information and help for Zoom.

You can continue to join Zoom meetings set up by other organisations, but please be aware of the risks and encourage the meeting organiser to ensure security and privacy settings are set appropriately.

Free Zoom accounts should not be used for any University business.

Please direct any enquiries about using Zoom or Teams to Help centre.