diff --git a/Gemfile b/Gemfile
index 8de1eb0e..b6f17f24 100644
--- a/Gemfile
+++ b/Gemfile
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ group :test do
   gem 'shoulda-matchers', '~> 3.1'
   gem 'faker'
   gem "factory_bot_rails"
+  gem 'webmock'
 
   # Ruby linting.
   gem 'rubocop'
diff --git a/Gemfile.lock b/Gemfile.lock
index 9b8cdf27..661d30be 100644
--- a/Gemfile.lock
+++ b/Gemfile.lock
@@ -40,6 +40,8 @@ GEM
       i18n (>= 0.7, < 2)
       minitest (~> 5.1)
       tzinfo (~> 1.1)
+    addressable (2.5.2)
+      public_suffix (>= 2.0.2, < 4.0)
     arel (7.1.4)
     ast (2.4.0)
     autoprefixer-rails (8.6.4)
@@ -68,6 +70,8 @@ GEM
       simplecov (>= 0.7)
       term-ansicolor
       thor
+    crack (0.4.3)
+      safe_yaml (~> 1.0.0)
     crass (1.0.4)
     diff-lcs (1.3)
     docile (1.3.1)
@@ -91,6 +95,7 @@ GEM
     ffi (1.9.25)
     globalid (0.4.1)
       activesupport (>= 4.2.0)
+    hashdiff (0.3.7)
     hashie (3.5.7)
     http-cookie (1.0.3)
       domain_name (~> 0.5)
@@ -168,6 +173,7 @@ GEM
     pg (0.21.0)
     popper_js (1.12.9)
     powerpack (0.1.2)
+    public_suffix (3.0.3)
     puma (3.11.4)
     pyu-ruby-sasl (0.0.3.3)
     rack (2.0.5)
@@ -239,6 +245,7 @@ GEM
       unicode-display_width (~> 1.0, >= 1.0.1)
     ruby-progressbar (1.9.0)
     rubyntlm (0.6.2)
+    safe_yaml (1.0.4)
     sass (3.5.6)
       sass-listen (~> 4.0.0)
     sass-listen (4.0.0)
@@ -297,6 +304,10 @@ GEM
       activemodel (>= 5.0)
       bindex (>= 0.4.0)
       railties (>= 5.0)
+    webmock (3.4.2)
+      addressable (>= 2.3.6)
+      crack (>= 0.3.2)
+      hashdiff
     websocket-driver (0.6.5)
       websocket-extensions (>= 0.1.0)
     websocket-extensions (0.1.3)
@@ -344,6 +355,7 @@ DEPENDENCIES
   tzinfo-data
   uglifier (>= 1.3.0)
   web-console (>= 3.3.0)
+  webmock
 
 BUNDLED WITH
-   1.16.3
+   1.16.4
diff --git a/spec/spec_helper.rb b/spec/spec_helper.rb
index 2f2e3d00..bd82a506 100644
--- a/spec/spec_helper.rb
+++ b/spec/spec_helper.rb
@@ -22,6 +22,11 @@ Coveralls.wear!
 require 'faker'
 require 'factory_bot_rails'
 
+require 'webmock/rspec'
+
+# For testing, disable connections to external servers
+WebMock.disable_net_connect!(allow_localhost: true)
+
 # This file was generated by the `rails generate rspec:install` command. Conventionally, all
 # specs live under a `spec` directory, which RSpec adds to the `$LOAD_PATH`.
 # The generated `.rspec` file contains `--require spec_helper` which will cause
@@ -38,6 +43,22 @@ require 'factory_bot_rails'
 #
 # See http://rubydoc.info/gems/rspec-core/RSpec/Core/Configuration
 RSpec.configure do |config|
+  # rspec webmock config goes here. To prevent tests from defaulting to
+  # external servers, api stubbing is used to simulate external server
+  # responses
+  config.before(:each) do
+    stub_request(:any, /#{ENV['BIGBLUEBUTTON_ENDPOINT']}/)
+      .with(
+        headers:
+        {
+          'Accept': '*/*',
+          'Accept-Encoding': 'gzip;q=1.0,deflate;q=0.6,identity;q=0.3',
+          'User-Agent': 'Ruby',
+        }
+      )
+      .to_return(status: 200, body: "", headers: {})
+  end
+
   # rspec-expectations config goes here. You can use an alternate
   # assertion/expectation library such as wrong or the stdlib/minitest
   # assertions if you prefer.