Is Zoom safe to use for my virtual event?
Zoom has allowed many organisations to continue to function in this unprecedented time. However the platform has also faced a lot of criticism for its security vulnerabilities. The use of any online technology forces us to weigh up security and privacy concerns versus usability and user experience.
Over the next few paragraphs, we'll address some of the most common concerns that you might have about adopting Zoom in your organisation...
We have concerns over the robustness of Zoom's Data Policy...
Zoom updated their privacy policy – specifying data is not sold, and meeting content is not observed or monitored.
Zoom has employed an ‘attendee tracking feature’ which would allow the meeting host to see if a user has moved away from the Zoom call on their device...
Zoom permanently removed the attendee attention tracker feature on 2nd April 2020.
We've heard about "Zoom Bombing" – Where somebody not invited to a meeting joins and in extreme cases shares inappropriate content...
Zoom has changed their platform wide settings to ensure all meetings have a password and waiting room as a default. Ensuring only people who have the ID and password (or exact link) can join the meeting – and then they have to be permitted by the host.
There have been reports of a vulnerability that Macs using Zoom can be taken over...
Zoom has released fixes for all Mac related ‘bugs’ to prevent this happening and encourages the internet to raise concerns to be fixed.
Zoom can't scale both safely AND quickly...
On 7th May 2020, Zoom acquired Keybase - a secure messaging and file-sharing service - allowing them integrate their technology ASAP, and strengthen their in-house capability.
Claims that Zoom is End-to-End encrypted have been challenged...
Zoom offered clarity around encryption. Zoom calls using Zoom Clients are encrypted however if a Zoom call crosses platform, for instance over an ISDN phone line, Zoom can't control this.
Can Zoom can gain access to a user’s social media accounts? In particular Facebook...
The Client on the Zoom platform that allowed this has been removed.
Zoom uses Chinese servers. In theory this would give the Chinese Government ability to request access to content....
Zoom users outside of China are now not routed through servers in China. Users also have the ability within their settings to pick with regional data centres they do/don’t use.
In conclusion
Zoom has undergone an unprecedented amount of growth during Covid-19 and is being used for purposes much wider than its original design. It's fair to say the organisation has struggled to keep up with the sheer surge in demand and variation of usage.
Zoom has taken an extremely proactive approach to dealing with issues that have arisen and have put fixes in place, however these issues should have, or could have, been considered earlier.
At WLTA we've found reassurance in Zoom's response to concerns raised about it's platform and how adaptive it has been to such user growth. Although the naivety of the organisation to not have addressed these issues prior to lockdown, when they were still hosting 10 million calls a day, is a concern that means we will keep monitoring the situation.
We specialise in designing and developing virtual events, so if you want to bring your event online, we're here to help.
