Covid-19 made Zoom a relevant tool for business and lifestyle communication. In recent months, the popularity of the videoconferencing app has grown. However, lately, the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) exposed the company for unsavory practices. This undermines the security of users worldwide.
The video conferencing provider is now required to take stronger steps in making sure that its security is not easily compromised to the detriment of millions of users globally. Since the company lied to the government for many years regarding its security features, FTC calls the latest findings ‘a historic malpractice’.
The user base of Zoom increased dramatically during the pandemic, seeing office workers staying home during the lockdown to work from home. Before 2019 ended, there were some 10 million users worldwide. But as of April 2020, there were about 300 million users. Families, schools, social gatherings, businesses, event makers, were just some of the types of users Zoom had. Since many people jumped on the bandwagon, their security became a serious issue.
Further, FTC declared that Zoom didn’t full its promise regarding helping to ensure that these meetings and data about users are adequately protected globally. The assurance from the company that it offered end-to-end encryption was baseless and totally false. The management retained the vital key that gave access to contents that were supposed to be private properties of the users. Unaware to the users of Zoom, the management could gain access to sensitive discussions, business tips, financial matters, etc; that people discussed during Zoom meetings.
FTC also maintained that the company misled those who wanted to save recordings on the cloud storage offered by Zoom. Contrary to the assurance given to users that immediately recordings were saved, they were encrypted, some of the recordings existed for more than two months not encrypted.
Lately, Zoom’s management claims that the security of users is the paramount thing on the management’s mind, adding that it takes seriously the trust that users place on Zoom and the brains behind it. They assured users that more will be done to innovate and enhance the product in order to deliver a secure videoconferencing experience.
