The ‘Waiting Room’ will reportedly be a virtual section where new participants who have joined on call will be put on hold, so that the host can screen them. This feature will enable the host to have more control over who is joining the conference call. Even if the password for the particular meeting is leaked out, the host will have the option to select who joins in.
The second feature is an extension of it. The two password settings will be enabled on all calls to prevent miscreants from joining a meeting.
Many users of the application have been facing distressing situations, where uninvited participants joined their calls to disrupt their meeting and there were several instances reported where unwanted explicit content was put up to disturb members. This practice is being known as 'Zoombombing'.
Zoom had shot to overnight fame as millions of people around the world used the app to study, work and socialize in the times of Covid-19 lockdown. But the spotlight had lead to widespread scrutiny of security and privacy issues of the platform. Will these features be able to prevent Zoombombing? Remains to be seen.