Zoom can put an end to the "Zoom bombing" thanks to a major security update scheduled for May 9.

Zoom had already made its service more secure with an administrative option to disable personal meeting IDs for meeting scheduling and initiation, effectively preventing someone discovering a personal meeting ID from breaking into an uninvited meeting.

On May 9, Zoom will require all users of its basic free service to have passwords for all meetings, the company outlined in a blog post yesterday (May 5).

Other security-focused features will also be available, such as requiring the use of a waiting room where meeting participants can wait until the host is ready to start the meeting. This will add another step to prevent unwanted guests from joining Zoom meetings.

In addition, screen sharing will only be enabled for the host of the meeting, preventing other meeting participants from sharing screens with others that may contain sensitive or inappropriate content.

All of these options are on by default, so even new Zoom users do not have to worry about tweaking the settings to make their meetings more secure. However, there is also an option to disable new security features.

The May 9 update follows an update to Zoom this past weekend. That update not only allowed meeting hosts to disable their personal meeting IDs, but also added other security steps. For example, they can prevent people from joining a meeting before the host, or lock the meeting once it has started to prevent people from sneaking in when the meeting is in full swing.

The ability to mute participants when they enter the room is also a new addition, especially useful in preventing chaotic audio scenarios where the microphone picks up the voices of others in the meeting, creating a distracting feedback loop.

Zoom has seen a surge in popularity since the coronavirus crisis forced more people to telecommute. However, its success has led companies like Google Meet to enhance its capabilities to compete with Zoom.

Therefore, adding more security features will help Zoom maintain its now huge user base by giving users peace of mind that only those who need to be on video calls will be present during user-hosted meetings.