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Just added to your cart. Continue shopping. Close search. Is the Zoom App Safe to Use? December 11, The Zoom app was the go to program for conferences ever since the pandemic hit.
With businesses and schools closing down during the first few months, video conferences rose, and so was the demand for a platform that can host up to a hundred users easily.
However, Zoom was plagued with numerous security issues that raised red flags. But with the company providing one Zoom security update after the other, can it be said that this program is already safe to use?
Zoom is the largest video conferencing platform photo credit: TrustRadius. There were several security flaws that were found in this program during the first few months of its launch. As with any program, security is an important part of the software since it offers protection to the user.
What are these flaws you ask? Zoom Bombing. During the first few months of the application, conferences were interrupted by random people who sent inappropriate content to the room.
Although the host of the conference will be able to remove the said individuals, it was possible for them to come back using a different ID. Missing End-to-End Encryption. The lack of proper end-to-end encryption by Zoom had been questioned by many, especially those who are experts in security. Although the company stated that their end-to-end encryption was different from what other companies have, the problem was that the decryption was happening on the server side.
This means that those who are running the network will be able to access files from the users. However, the Federal Trade Commission stated recently that the company was actually misleading their users by engaging in deception with regards to the security of the platform. That said, Zoom is required to undergo reviews of their internal as well as external securities every two years.
They are also required to have a program for managing vulnerabilities. It was also stipulated that Zoom should provide their customers with a two-step authentication which they are now doing. Sneaky Installer. Or that you found a program on your gadget that you did not install on your own? Well, it seems that the Zoom application can easily take over your own privileges on your gadget in order to install random software for suspicious purposes. This was called out by the experts as well as companies that were using the program too.
Email and Photo Leak. Users of the program, such as Dutch users, found that their emails and photos were stored in a folder that is accessible to the public. For a platform with millions of users, this left their personal information vulnerable to anyone. This is a huge security leak and one that Zoom was tasked to fix.
The Latest on Zoom Security Update. The latest on Zoom security update photo credit: techradar. Zoom was given up to 90 days to address the security issues that it had. Here are a few worth noting. Combat Zoom Bombings. It appears that Zoom has finally made two features to address the issue of random people popping up in conferences to disrupt them. The company has issued two additional features that were designed to address this problem. This feature puts the power on the host to pause the ongoing conference, remove those that were disrupting the activity, then resume after.
Hopefully, these new add-ons will be able to make the video conferences more secure to the guests. End-to-End Encryption. After months of silence from Zoom, the company announced in October that their end-to-end encryption will undergo beta testing in the third week of October. On October 27, the feature was finally launched but it was only limited to the Android platform since they had to wait for an approval from the tech giant, Apple.
Is it possible that they will roll out this feature for those who are using the platform for free? It remains to be seen. Updated Security for Private Rooms in Zoom. A few months ago, the web interface of this video conferencing platform was down because it appeared that anyone can easily guess the six-digit PINs for these rooms by anyone.
This was one of the reasons why many were able to bomb private conferences easily. Tom Anthony, a security researcher from Britain, wrote about how he was able to crash a Zoom conference within half an hour. The good news is that this was already fixed which is one less problem to worry about in this platform.
A Zoom meeting underway photo credit: theguardian. With the latest Zoom security update in place, the question now is whether the application is finally safe to use by everyone. This is still a good platform for virtual get-togethers especially during this pandemic. If you still think that the alternative of zoom app for video conferencing can be found and better option then we can also have them easily online.
But after all that is said and done, it still pays to be more aware of your personal security when using this platform. As a matter of fact, there are several Zoom security best practices that you should follow such as:. Use a web browser when joining meetings. Instead of downloading the Zoom software for desktop, it is best that you open it from the web browser. One reason behind this is this version typically receives updates or enhancements faster compared to the desktop platform.
This means that it is less vulnerable to Zoom security issues. When you join a meeting via a link, there will be a new tab that will be opened where you will be prompted to install the software.
Check the fine print and locate the link where you can join through your choice of browser. Use password. Another example of Zoom security tips is to have your guests sign in using a password. This is applicable if you will be the host of a private conference to avoid being rudely interrupted by unknown individuals. Set up authentication. If these Zoom security settings are activated, it will be difficult for potential hackers to get into your personal accounts even if they do have your addresses for your emails as well as passwords.
This authentication process will have to pass a second layer of authentication such as a smartphone to be able to open the account.
More of this will be discussed below. Although the concept of Zoom was a great idea, especially since it allows a hundred users to converge in a single room virtually, it was prone to getting hacked in various ways. There have been reports already that these hackers have already created fake domains that are related to Zoom plus malware for the program too. On a good note, if the company behind Zoom is able to find these flaws and address them as quickly as possible, there is a good chance that they will be able to keep their platform safe and secure for its users.
If this is your first time to set this up, you will need two things: your laptop or your desktop and your smartphone. See to it that the authenticator program is already installed in your device before you proceed. Here are the steps you will need to follow:. Sign in into your account via the web browser on your desktop. On the upper right portion of your monitor select My Account. Choose Profile which you will find on the left portion of your navigation bar.
Select the Two-Factor Authentication which you will find almost at the end of your screen to activate it. You will then have to decide what your second layer of authentication will be. Will it be via SMS, an Authentication program, or you can use both. Via Authentication Application. Like it was mentioned before, you will need to ensure that you have your authenticator application already downloaded and installed on your mobile device, regardless of whether it is brand-new or refurbished, before you proceed with the authentication process.
Once done, you can do the following:. Choose the Authentication App on your profile page then input your password. You will have to create a new entry in the authenticator program in your mobile device. You will need to input the temporary code provided by the authenticator program on your device to your computer to complete the registration. Setting up Mobile Number. It does pay to have a multiple authentication process to go through especially with platforms such as Zoom where there is the danger of getting hacked into.
To set up your mobile number for Zoom, you will need to do these steps:. Choose SMS then proceed with typing your password for Zoom. You should then input your mobile number as well as the country code. You will receive a temporary code again which consists of six numbers. These numbers must be typed on the web page in your computer. Zoom is a promising video conferencing platform, there is no doubt about that. The very idea of being able to connect to multiple individuals without the program crashing is exceptional already.
In these times when social distancing is being practiced and many are working from home, Zoom really does shine the most. However, the security flaws that it has is disconcerting, especially when previous reports have stated that anyone can easily enter a conference to drop unwanted GIFs, or send malwares via links in the chat room.
Is it safe to download zoom. One year on, is Zoom safe to use?
- Is Zoom Safe & Secure?
Under this pact, Zoom had several improvements and changes to the platform. According to the report, Zoom falsely claims that it provides E2EE encryption while, in fact, it offers little of the kind, keeps users' recorded video conferences hidden from surveillance, and installs software into users' devices without permission.
Bypassing such security measures, Zoom can remain on a computer even after users have uninstalled it. In case research and government declarations don't convince you, think about how many major organizations and corporations have switched to video conferencing alternatives.
Despite Zoom's commitment to change, the video conference tool has a history of deception and failure. It has no mandate to change its data collection practices. Don't forget, most modern 'smart' devices are listening to your every word and in the case of Samsung, for example, they were absolutely open about it. Continuing from the above section, the simple answer to any question, not just "Is Zoom secure?
Here are some questions you should ask before you use any software:. No, Zoom is a US-based company. He also added that he's been an American citizen since , living in the US since Yes, they do and I can assure you well, let's hope I am right that someone somewhere must have done a contextual risk assessment based on what was going to be discussed, the sensitivity of the topics and more, before allowing them to join a Zoom meeting room.
In summary, the data stays in the US only. There is something similar by Microsoft for Microsoft Teams. Ensure you do your research. They are either PDFs or websites. At Cyber Management Alliance, we regularly conduct Cyber Crisis Tabletop Exercises for clients including banks, councils, sporting organisations, pharmaceuticals and more.
Di Stefano cited his sources as "people on the call," The Independent said. The Independent also found that Di Stefano's cellphone had earlier been used to access a Zoom meeting at the Evening Standard, another London newspaper.
That meeting was followed by a Financial Times piece about Evening Standard furloughs and pay cuts. Zoom isn't the only video-conferencing platform to have questionable privacy policies, Consumer Reports opens in new tab said in a blog post: Cisco Webex, Microsoft's Teams and Skype, and Google's Duo, Meet and Hangouts do too.
Consumer Reports said you should know that everything in a video meeting may be recorded, either by the host or another participant. It also recommended dialing into video-conference meetings over the phone, not creating accounts with the services if possible, and using "burner" email addresses otherwise.
After prodding from reporters at The Verge opens in new tab , Zoom admitted that it did not in fact have a recent peak of million daily users, as stated in a blog post last week. Rather, Zoom had a peak of million daily "participants. Researchers at Trend Micro spotted another Zoom installer file that had been corrupted with malware. In this case, it's spyware that can turn on the webcam, take screenshots and log keystrkes, as well as collecting diagnostic data about the system it's running on.
It also installs a fully working version of the Zoom desktop client. You don't need to install any software on your desktop to run Zoom.
Zoom is a prime target for foreign spies, especially Chinese intelligence operatives, the Department of Homeland Security has warned U. Foreign spies would be interested in any internet-based communications medium that saw such a steep increase in growth. But the DHS report singled out China as a likely meddler in Zoom security because Zoom has a substantial number of staffers in that country. However, Zoom in the past week has given paid meeting hosts the option of avoiding Zoom servers in specific regions, including China and North America.
Unpaid Zoom hosts will by default use only servers in their home regions. A new report from Mozilla , the non-profit maker of the Firefox web browser, says that Zoom's privacy and security policies and practices are better than those of Apple FaceTime. FaceTime got only 4.
A new Zoom phishing scam is sure to get the attention of anyone working from home during the coronavirus lockdown. It seems to come from your employer's HR department, and invites you to join a Zoom meeting starting in a few minutes to discuss possible termination of your employment. If you click on the link in the email to join the meeting, you're taken to a very real-looking Zoom login page. It's fake. If you enter your credentials, then the crooks can take over your Zoom account.
Zoom has finally updated its meeting-client software to version 5. Here's our guide on how to update to Zoom 5. The update is not yet available for iOS, as Apple has to vet the software before the new version of the app can be pushed out. We also couldn't see in the Google Play app store as of Monday afternoon Eastern time April 27 , but odds are it will appear soon.
No other company may have benefited more from the stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus crisis. To put that in perspective, daily usage peaked at million people per day in March, the company said on April 1 opens in new tab.
In December , Zoom usage peaked at 10 million daily users. The new version will include many of the security fixes we've recently seen for the Zoom web interface, including the abilities to kick out Zoom bombers from meetings, make sure meeting data doesn't go through China, and put everyone waiting for a meeting in a "waiting room.
We checked the Zoom changelogs opens in new tab and discovered that the update won't be available until Sunday, April Cisco Talos researchers said Zoom's meeting chat function made it too easy for outsiders to find all Zoom users in an particular organization.
If you had a valid Zoom account, Cisco Talos explained in a blog post opens in new tab , you could pretend that you worked at any organization and get the full names and chat IDs of every registered Zoom user whose email address used that organization's email domain. You would not have to verify that you worked there, and you wouldn't even need to be in a Zoom meeting to get the information.
That information "could be leveraged to disclose further contact information including the user's email address, phone number and any other information that is present in their vCard," or digital business card, Cisco Talos wrote.
In a blog post opens in new tab April 20, Zoom said the option of excluding certain countries from call routing was now live. This will let Zoom meeting administrators avoid having meeting data routed through Zoom servers in China, the U.
New updates to the Zoom platform opens in new tab for the web interface rolled out April 19 include masking some participant personal information, such as email addresses or phone numbers, during meetings. Another change is that users who share the same email domain will no longer be able to search for each other by name.
The New York Times opens in new tab reported that Dropbox executives were so concerned about security flaws in Zoom that in Dropbox created its own secret bug-bounty program for Zoom flaws. In other words, Dropbox would pay hackers for security vulnerabilities they found in Zoom. Dropbox staffers used Zoom regularly, and Dropbox was an investor in Zoom. The Times reported that Dropbox would confirm the flaws, then pass them along to Zoom so that Zoom could fix them.
Zoom-meeting video recordings saved on Zoom's cloud servers can be easily discovered and often viewed, a security researcher told Cnet opens in new tab. Phil Guimond opens in new tab noticed that online recordings of Zoom meetings have a predictable URL structure and are thus easy to find.
The Washington Post reported last week on a similar issue with Zoom recordings that had been uploaded by users to third-party cloud servers. In those cases, the file names of meeting recordings followed a predictable pattern.
Until Zoom pushed out a series of updates opens in new tab this past Tuesday, Zoom meeting recordings were not required to be password-protected. Guimond built a simple tool that automatically searches for Zoom meeting recordings and tries to open them. If a meeting has a password, his tool tries to brute-force access by running through millions of possible passwords. If a meeting recording is viewable, so is the Zoom meeting ID, and the attacker might be able to access future recurring meetings.
But, Guimond said, the URL pattern is still the same, and attackers could still try to open each generated result manually. Zoom announced it was hiring Luta Security opens in new tab , a consulting firm headed by Katie Moussouris, to revamp Zoom's "bug bounty" program, which pays hackers to find software flaws.
Moussouris set up the first bug-bounty programs at Microsoft and the Pentagon. In her own blog post opens in new tab , she announced that Zoom was bringing in other well-regarded information-security firms and researchers to improve its security. In its weekly webinar, according to ZDNet opens in new tab , Zoom also said it would also let meeting hosts report abusive users, and newly hired security consultant Alex Stamos said Zoom would be switching to a more robust encryption standard after Zoom's existing encryption was found to be lacking.
In other news, a congressman has complained that a congressional briefing held over Zoom on April 3 was "zoom-bombed" opens in new tab at least three times. The head of Standard Chartered, a London-based multinational bank, has warned employees to not use Zoom or Google Hangouts for remote meetings, citing security concerns, according to Reuters opens in new tab.
Standard Chartered primarily uses the rival Blue Jeans video-conferencing platform, according to two bank staffers who spoke anonymously. Hackers are apparently offering to sell two "zero-day" exploits in Zoom to the highest bidder, Vice opens in new tab reports.
Zero-days are hacks that take advantage of vulnerabilities the software maker doesn't know about, and which users have little or no defense against. Sources who told Vice about the zero-days said one exploit is for Windows and lets a remote attacker get full control of a target's computer.
The catch is that the attacker and the target have to be on the same Zoom call. This is a reaction to the discovery earlier in April that many Zoom meetings hosted by and involving U. Usernames and passwords for more than , Zoom accounts are being sold or given away in criminal marketplaces. These accounts were not compromised as the result of a Zoom data breach, but instead through credential stuffing.
That's when criminals try to unlock accounts by re-using credentials from accounts compromised in previous data breaches. It works only if an account holder uses the same password for more than one account. Researchers from IngSights discovered a set of 2, Zoom login credentials being shared in a criminal online forum.
Maor told Threatpost opens in new tab it didn't seem like the credentials came from a Zoom data breach, given their relatively small number. It's also possible that some of the credentials were the result of "credential stuffing. Information-security researchers know of several Zoom "zero-day" exploits opens in new tab , according to Vice.
Zero-days are exploits for software vulnerabilities that the software maker doesn't know about and hasn't fixed, and hence has "zero days" to prepare before the exploits appear. However, one Vice source implied that other video-conferencing solutions also had security flaws. Another source said that Zoom zero-days weren't selling for much money due to lack of demand. Criminals are trading compromised Zoom accounts on the "dark web," Yahoo News opens in new tab reported. This information apparently came from Israeli cybersecurity firm Sixgill, which specializes in monitoring underground online-criminal activity.
We weren't able to find any mention of the findings on the Sixgill website opens in new tab. Sixgill told Yahoo it had spotted compromised Zoom accounts that included meeting IDs, email addresses, passwords and host keys. Some of the accounts belonged to schools, and one each to a small business and a large healthcare provider, but most were personal.
If you have a Zoom account, make sure its password isn't the same as the password for any other account you have. Researchers at Trend Micro opens in new tab discovered a version of the Zoom installer that has been bundled with cryptocurrency-mining malware , i. The Zoom installer will put Zoom version 4. By the way, the latest Zoom client software for Windows is up to version 4. The coin-miner will ramp up your PC's central processor unit, and its graphics card if there is one, to solve mathematical problems in order to generate new units of cryptocurrency.
To avoid getting hit with this malware, make sure you're running one of the best antivirus programs, and don't click on any links in emails, social media posts or pop-up messages that promise to install Zoom on your machine.
Services such as Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Webex have all received flak from security experts over privacy concerns. However, Zoom has been involved in multiple lawsuits over the last year. In , Zoom secretly installed a web server on Macs that let websites spy on users and re-installed the Zoom meeting software even after the user had deleted the program.
And it told customers that recorded meetings stored on Zoom servers would immediately be encrypted, which wasn't always true. Most recently, the Federal Trade Commission announced that Zoom "misled users" and "engaged in a series of deceptive and unfair practices" regarding its own security. The decision, issued by U. It was agreed that Zoom would have yearly internal security reviews and external security reviews every other year and must implement a vulnerability management program.
Another stipulation was that Zoom offers customers multi-factor authentication , which it has already implemented. Certainly, a big step in the right direction. But for social get-togethers and workplace meetings that stick to routine business , Zoom is safe enough.
Of course, there are a few security best practices to follow when using the platform to keep you extra secure. What action has Zoom taken? Find out more. One Response. Jonny 15th April Hi Luke Thanks for a great report, I shall be keeping an eye on this.
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