Is Zoom safe to use?

Zoom

Due to the nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus,  Zoom has so far been a popular app for this, since it allows a large number of participants to join a video call at the same time, and is free to use for 40-minute sessions.

lockdown has affected almost all type of work force in direct or indirect way, work from home is the only solution right now , Video app Zoom that has gained immense popularity among the SMBs, schools and, enterprises in India and elsewhere to connect remotely, due to the break of the novel coronavirus, even most of the local teaching institution and coaching class have moved toward Zoom to cop-up with the running syllabus. Yet many countries have banned the use of this application due to its privacy and data breach 

learn more on Lockdown

What does the authorities has to say ?

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has released a set of guidelines for Zoom users to keep themselves, their colleagues, friends and family safe from possible cyber-attacks and online harassment.

 

 “not a safe platform” from the privacy point of view. Is the quoted saying from them regarding the issue, 

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The point below is the subsequent summary of it

• Create a new user ID and password for each meeting
• Create a waiting room in the app so that a user will be able to enter the meeting only when the host gives them permission
• Disable the ‘Join’ feature before hosting
• Disable the option: “Allow removed participants to re-join”
• Restrict or disable file transfer
• Lock the meeting when all participants have joined
• Restrict the recording feature
• End every meeting (not just leave), if you are an administrator
• Allow Screen sharing by Host-only

Speaking of popularity, due to an increase in new users with a once surpassed the popular social media application like WhatsApp with the tag of the maximum downloaded app of the week, Zoom has found itself noticed by hackers. 

The problem lies with the way that Zoom allows you to start or join a meeting simply by clicking a web link. While that makes it easy for users, it requires the creation of a local web server that runs on your machine. This enables the launching of meetings with video and audio without additional authorizations from the user.

Origin 

According to Jonathan Leitschuh, ( A security researcher) in his blog,  lays out this newly-discovered vulnerability.

This method of launching meetings might be user-friendly, but it certainly isn’t security-friendly since it means that attackers could use the flaw to start a meeting and turn on your camera without you authorizing it.

The flaws like for ‘Zoom Bombing’, whereby unauthorized people can often gain access to meetings and conference calls meant for students ,friends, etc

 

Aftermath of the events 

there the good news for the user too, as soon as the vulnerability was exposed.  Zoom CEO, Eric Yuan, has apologized to the users for this security loophole and also stated that the company for the next coming week would work on improving the existing security and addition of new security features whereby the company would stop all work on new features and instead.

All conclude to due to its simplicity its good to use if we follow the security Guidelines given by respective Org.

Follow on to  this articles will be available soon 

Reference:-

•  Inc.com
• Zoom.us

Author :-  Satyam Sharma   ♥

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