PSA: Privacy Concerns Amidst Zoom App (Remote Conferencing)

Arjun

Known around here
Feb 26, 2017
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Might want to reconsider what you use for video conferencing. Perhaps all services may be equally susceptible, but Zoom has been in the headlines more frequently in the last few days



From Wikipedia (in-brief):
Zoom Video Communications is an American remote conferencing services company headquartered in San Jose, California. It provides a remote conferencing service that combines video conferencing, online meetings, chat, and mobile collaboration.[1]
Zoom was founded in 2011 by Eric Yuan, a lead engineer from Cisco Systems and its collaboration business unit WebEx.[1] The service started in January 2013, and by May 2013 it claimed one million participants.[2] During the first year of its release, Zoom established partnerships with B2B collaboration software providers, such as Redbooth (then Teambox),[3] and also created a program named "Works with Zoom", which established partnerships with multiple hardware and software vendors such as Logitech, Vaddio,[4] and InFocus.[5][6]
[7]
 
I have hosted a number of meetings on Zoom although it has been a year or so. I have also used Skype and GoToMeeting but most of my experience is with WebEx.

I assume many of the problems are from new users setting up meetings with little if any restrictions on who can join.

There are a number of tools that provide much higher levels of security including registrations, entering in a waiting room and manually added to the meeting by the host, restrictions on who can record, share content, screens or even talk. These more advanced capabilities take more training though and some of these new users, like teachers hosting an online class for the first time, are way behind the learning curve and not easy to train.
 
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I had a meeting the other day through Zoom, and we were provided a one-time password. A password should theoretically add another layer of security to prevent unauthorized access as well.

I have hosted a number of meetings on Zoom although it has been a year or so. I have also used Skype and GoToMeeting but most of my experience is with WebEx.

I assume many of the problems are from new users setting up meetings with little if any restrictions on who can join.

There are a number of tools that provide much higher levels of security including registrations, entering in a waiting room and manually added to the meeting by the host, restrictions on who can record, share content, screens or even talk. These more advanced capabilities take more training though and some of these new users, like teachers hosting an online class for the first time, are way behind the learning curve and not easy to train.
 
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A report today mentioned due to all the Zoom traffic, more sessions were routed through Chinese data centers. China requires the encryption key is given to them or the data is not encrypted in order to go through China. Zoom seems to have access as well when they want, more than some users may have thought.

 
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That's not a mistake, that's exploitation. That's a lame excuse. Zoom is a company listed on NASDAQ. I understand the founder graduated from Shandong University of Science and Technology. However, laws need to be stictly imposed in terms of how data is routed. Its almost like saying the cheapest solar panels are made in a region where the cost of raw materials and cheap labor are at its maximum lowest. :eek: At this point, I'm just glad they admitted the fact that data was routed in such a manner. Being aware of how information is routed is important. This example shed a lot of light on not just the American public, but the rest of the world as well.

A report today mentioned due to all the Zoom traffic, more sessions were routed through Chinese data centers. China requires the encryption key is given to them or the data is not encrypted in order to go through China. Zoom seems to have access as well when they want, more than some users may have thought.

 
My company has been using plain old Google Hangouts for years, free, easy and it just works.
 
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