WTS Privacy & Security Guidelines

In recent weeks, as the private sector and public institutions across the globe have moved their operations into online formats, web-conferencing tools have become a much in-demand service.

At Western, there are two centrally provided web-conferencing solutions: Blackboard Collaborate (used within the OWL platform) and Zoom. Over the past two weeks, the widespread use of Zoom has been unprecedented in its growth, both here at Western as well as within the higher education sector and other industries.

The reliance on Zoom has produced some anxieties regarding privacy and security, which have heightened over the past three weeks as a result of intense use of the platform. It is important that all Zoom users adhere to the following:

• Do not post group pictures of your meeting on social media without consent from each participant;
• Be mindful of what is in your background during your meeting;
• Be aware of who can listen to your meeting;
• Use the options within Zoom to control screen/whiteboard sharing and who has access to your meeting (waiting room, password, distribution of link);
• When sharing screens, ensure no private information is open on your desktop.

The contract between Western University and Zoom stipulates several provisions for the protection of personal information provided through our use of the service. For example, Zoom is prohibited from sharing personal information with third parties unless authorized by Western.

There are other concerns Zoom is addressing and those details can be found here.

WTS has posted Zoom best practices and information on Zoom’s privacy and security issues at: https://wts.uwo.ca/zoom/best-practices.html.

Western stands behind the choice to use Zoom for communications related to research, teaching, learning and related administrative matters of the university.

WTS will continue to monitor issues related to this platform and will provide updates to the community as we become aware.