Preventing and Responding to ‘Zoom Bombing’ in Public Meetings

Guest post from Christian Torkelson, LMCIT cybersecurity loss control consultant

City councils, planning commissions, and other boards often rely on video conferencing platforms to run public meetings. These tools make it easier for residents to watch, participate, and stay informed. Unfortunately, they also open the door to a disruptive practice called “Zoom Bombing.”

What is Zoom Bombing?

Zoom bombing happens when an outside person joins a public meeting and interrupts it by sharing offensive content. This could include pornographic videos, racist language, or other hateful material. The goal is usually to shock or embarrass participants, or simply to get attention.

Because public meetings must remain open, it is not practical to restrict access through private invitations. Most video conferencing platforms — like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or WebEx — were originally designed as collaboration tools. Their default settings give participants many permissions, often more than what is safe for public meetings.

While a hacked host account can cause problems, most Zoom bombing occurs because default settings for participants were never changed. Fortunately, this risk can be greatly reduced by tightening attendee permissions before each meeting.

How to Reduce Risk

City clerks and administrators can protect meetings by adjusting settings when scheduling or starting a session. Recommended steps include:

• Disabling participant screen sharing. Allow only the host to share their screen.
• Disabling participant video. Prevent attendees from displaying unwanted content in video thumbnails.
• Disabling screen annotation. Block participants from drawing or writing on the shared screen.
• Turning off meeting chat and file sharing. Stop disruptive messages from being shared with everyone.
• Turning off private chat and file sharing. Prevent one-to-one harassment between participants.
• Enabling “Mute all upon entry.” Keep microphones quiet until the host grants permission.
• Preventing name changes. Stop participants from posting disruptive messages through their displayed name.

Practice Meeting and Participant Management

Before your next public meeting, consider practicing your meeting management skills. Become familiar with controls like muting, removing participants, and reclaiming screen sharing. It is important to have muscle memory for these actions because you may need to overcome some degree of panic or fluster that can commonly occur during Zoom bombings.

Assigning a co-host or secondary meeting host who is off-screen can also provide valuable support during public meetings.

What to Do If Zoom Bombing Happens

Even with good precautions, incidents may still occur. If your meeting is disrupted:

1. Start the recording (if not already running). This helps preserve evidence of threats or harassment.
2. Talk over the disruptive content. Calmly explain that the material is not appropriate or sanctioned and reassure the public that it is not what your city stands for.
3. Do not panic or overreact. Many Zoom bombers are looking for a strong reaction. Staying calm denies them that reward.
4. Remove the offender. Use the host controls to eject the disruptive participant.
5. If necessary, pause the meeting. Announce a brief recess to adjust permissions, then restart the meeting.

Zoom bombing is disruptive, but it is also preventable. By changing default settings and limiting participant permissions, city clerks and administrators can keep meetings safe and orderly. Most video conferencing providers publish step-by-step security guides. Following these resources can give your city even stronger protection against unwanted interruptions.