Is Zoom Safe & Secure?.
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Is zoom dangerous to download.We Asked A Cybersecurity Expert To Explain How To Safely Use Zoom
Zoom privacy risks: The video chat app could be sharing more information than you think - CNET
The claims were quickly shown to be false. Data was encrypted, but only between you and the Zoom servers. While that means that snoopers and local hackers on your public Wi-Fi network would not be able to see your calls, Zoom employees could see everything.
Therefore, if a government or law enforcement agency were to request access to your chats, they could easily get them. In late October , Zoom did finally roll out true end-to-end encryption, but the entire episode left a bad taste and showed Zoom could not be trusted as a business.
Head to Settings and toggle Allow use of end-to-end encryption to enable the feature. The Zoom installer has been widely copied and redistributed. Many of those redistributions had malware bundled in with the installer in an attempt to trick unsuspecting users.
The most famous example is the cryptocurrency-mining malware that was found in Zoom installers in April If installed, it would eat through your CPU and GPU in a bid to mine Bitcoin, leaving you with little free power to do anything else on your machine. This flaw isn't Zoom's fault. But it shows how hackers will target anything that's "hot" at a given moment and exploit it.
If you recall that the Zoom web interface was out of commission for a few days back in April , now we know why: The company was fixing a very serious security flaw that could have let anyone join a private Zoom meeting. British security researcher Tom Anthony opens in new tab detailed on his blog this week how he found that he could make endless random guesses on the 6-digit PINs Zoom assigns to private meetings. That's a million possibilities to go through, which might be tough for a human, but isn't hard for a decently powered PC running multiple threads.
Anthony found he could break into Zoom meetings in about half an hour, give or take. That's long before many meetings are over. An unnamed security researcher found a critical flaw in the Zoom meetings client software for Windows that would let a hacker remotely take over any PC running Windows 7 or earlier. Zoom fixed the flaw with a software update soon after the flaw became public knowledge. Backing down after sustained criticism from privacy advocates, Zoom announced in a blog posting June 17 opens in new tab that its upcoming end-to-end encryption E2E wouldn't just be for paid users any more.
The millions of people who use Zoom for free for school, socializing and work would get end-to-end encryption too. Yuan wrote. But if you're a free user who wants E2E, you'll first have to verify your identity to Zoom via a one-time-password or similar service.
This will make it harder to "zoom bomb" meetings. The E2E encryption will remain an optional feature, Yuan reminded, because when it's activated, no one can join a meeting over the phone or with certain office teleconferencing equipment. It'll be up to meeting hosts whether to activate E2E. Zoom's in hot water in the U.
The company apologized for the actions in a blog post June 11 opens in new tab and said it would develop a way to block meeting participants from certain locations i.
That wasn't enough to satisfy more than a dozen U. Yuan demanding to know how cozy his company was with the Beijing government. Talos opens in new tab , an information-security research firm owned by Cisco, revealed June 3 that it had found two serious flaws in Zoom client applications, both of which have now been patched. The first flaw opens in new tab would have let an attacker use a specially created animated GIF placed in a Zoom meeting chat to hack Zoom client software on other people's machines to force the installation of malware, or, as Talos put it, "achieve arbitrary code execution.
The second flaw opens in new tab also involves the chat function in Zoom meeting client software, with similarly serious potential consequences.
The problem was that Zoom did not validate the contents of shared compressed files such as. An attacker could have sent malware in the form of a compressed file to a user via Zoom meeting chat, and the user's Zoom client would have saved and opened the malware within the Zoom application's directory.
Even worse, if the user were to save the Zoom compressed file elsewhere on the PC, such as on the desktop, then the attacked could send an altered version of the first file with the same name. Zoom would open the second version but not the first automatically, permitting the malware to "plant binaries at almost arbitrary paths and Zoom's upcoming end-to-end encryption is mainly for paid users, as Zoom itself stated back on May 7.
But Alex Stamos, a well-known information-security expert who is consulting Zoom on security matters, told Reuters opens in new tab last week that schools and other non-profit enterprises might be able to also get the end-to-end encryption for their accounts.
All administrators of Zoom Rooms need to update their software opens in new tab by May 30, Zoom said in a blog posting May The update to Zoom 5. More information about updating Zoom Rooms is here opens in new tab.
The 5. Two more instances of corrupted Zoom installers were found by Trend Micro researchers. The first opens up a backdoor on a PC; the second spies on the PC's owner with screenshots, keylogging and webcam hijacking and drafts the PC into the Devil Shadow botnet. Both installers do install the Zoom software client, so victims may be none the wiser. As always, get your Zoom software straight from the Zoom website at Zoom.
Zoom suffered an unexplained outage Sunday, May 17, rendering it unavailable to thousands of users in the U. The outage, which began Sunday morning U.
Even the British government's daily coronavirus briefing opens in new tab was affected, knocking out the ability of journalists to ask questions over Zoom.
Some users reported on Twitter that logging out of Zoom accounts, then logging back in, seemed to solve the issue. Zoom's status page noted that a backend update had taken place earlier Sunday morning, but there didn't seem to be any linkage between that update and the outage that began a few hours later.
The Zoom status page opens in new tab said at the time that the outages "appear to be limited to a subset of users" and that Zoom was "working to identify the root cause and scope of this issue.
Cybercriminals may have registered hundreds of new Zoom-related website addresses in the past few weeks, according to researchers at Israeli security firm Check Point opens in new tab. Many of these sites are being used in phishing attacks to grab victims' Zoom usernames and passwords, and similar scams are leveraging rival video-conferencing platforms such as Google Meet and Microsoft Teams.
Over the weekend, online vandals hijacked the graduation ceremony at Oklahoma City University opens in new tab , replacing the Zoom video feed with racist language and symbols. It wasn't immediately clear whether this was a result of regular Zoom-bombing or if the attackers used less well-known methods to disrupt the video feed. Zoom announced May 7 opens in new tab that due to its technical-support staff being overwhelmed with calls, it would be able to give personal technical assistance only to "owners and administrators" of paid accounts.
In other words, any user, owner or administrator of a free Zoom account, and end users of paid accounts, won't be entitled to human help. Instead, they'll have to rely on the FAQs and how-to's list on the Zoom online resources opens in new tab page.
For now, this provision applies only to May and June If the coronavirus lockdown last longer than that, Zoom may have to hire more tech-support staffers. New York State Attorney General Letitia James' office reached an agreement with Zoom opens in new tab May 7 following an investigation into Zoom's security and privacy practices. There isn't a lot of new stuff in the agreement. Most of the stipulations Zoom agreed to are things the company is already doing, including making passwords mandatory and using better encryption.
In the long term, Zoom has to conduct regular code reviews and conduct yearly penetration-testing exercises, in which paid hackers try to break through the company's defenses. Only two new things will directly affect consumers. It also has to update its Acceptable Use policies to ban "abusive conduct include hatred against others based on race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, gender, or sexual orientation.
Frankly, these are longstanding standard policies at many other online companies, so we're a little surprised that they weren't already Zoom policies. Yuan announced opens in new tab. The purchase price or other terms of the deal were not disclosed. Keybase makes user-friendly software to easily and securely encrypt messaging and social media posts.
In March, Zoom had to admit that its touted "end-to-end" encryption was not the real thing because Zoom's own servers are always able to access the contents of meetings.
Once Keybase's technology is incorporated, that will no longer always be the case. Meeting passwords and waiting rooms will be required by default for all Zoom meetings, free or paid, beginning May 9, Zoom announced. Only hosts will be able to share their screens by default, but like the other settings, that can be changed. Yuan said the massive increase in Zoom usage since the beginning of the coronavirus lockdown had been "challenging," but also provided "opportunities for us to drive meaningful change and improvement.
Yuan admitted that "we failed to set pre-configured security features for our new customers, especially for schools," referring to meeting passwords and waiting rooms. That resulted in "uninvited, offensive, and sometimes even truly evil people disrupting meetings," Yuan wrote. Such a person disrupted a Zoom meeting on sexual violence opens in new tab in the Bay Area last week.
Yuan also addressed rumors about his own, and Zoom's, ties to China. He said he had lived in the U. A reporter for London's Financial Times resigned after he was caught crashing internal Zoom meetings at rival London newspapers. Mark Di Stefano announced his resignation on Twitter opens in new tab after The Independent opens in new tab documented how Di Stefano had last week joined an Independent staff meeting regarding pay cuts and furloughs, first under his own name, then anonymously.
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. 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. Try using one of the free alternatives. You'll find there's no reason not to trust others, especially those that are specific to mobile. Before you move on to another blog on our site, there is much more to the answer than a simple yes. Let me explain. The first question you should ask is what do you do? Are you in the arms manufacturing business for a special government unit?
Are you discussing National Security Topics or extremely sensitive data that, if intercepted, could actually impact the country's security? You get the point. If your topic of discussion is extremely sensitive and you don't want any interception then you should NOT be using Zoom.
As a matter of fact, you should not be using any web conferencing solutions available. We may write another blog for suitable alternatives. 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?
Courtesy of Facebook's Graph API, Zoom was telling Facebook whenever you opened the Zoom app, what phone or device you were using, and your phone carrier, location and a unique advertising identifier. Motherboard also reported that Zoom had updated its iOS app so the app would stop sending certain data to Facebook.
In a March blog post , Zoom addressed the issue, noting "our customers' privacy is incredibly important to us, and therefore we decided to remove the Facebook SDK in our iOS client and have reconfigured the feature so that users will still be able to log in with Facebook via their browser. As late as March , Zoom's privacy policy contained some breezy language about its relationship to third-party data crunchers, which gives one reason to question where else -- and to what extent -- that data was being shared or sold that we didn't know about.
We use these tools to help us improve your advertising experience such as serving advertisements on our behalf across the Internet, serving personalized ads on our website, and providing analytics services ," the policy said at the time. But at the end of March, Zoom updated its privacy policy.
In a statement following the move, Zoom said that while it wasn't changing any of its actual practices, it wanted to make its language clearer. Regarding its relationship to third-party data handlers described above, the company drew a line in the sand between its product and its website. No data regarding user activity on the Zoom platform -- including video, audio, and chat content -- is ever provided to third parties for advertising purposes," the company said.
You should probably review your Zoom and device security settings with an eye toward minimizing permissions, and make sure any anti-tracking software on your device is up to date and running.
Is Zoom Safe to Use? Here's What You Need to Know.5 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Use Zoom Anymore
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. Before the Covid pandemic, we conducted most tabletop exercises at the customer site or in special offsite locations. Since the beginning of March , we switched all cyber tabletop sessions to remote and started using Zoom.
At that time it was the only one that offered breakout room functionality, a feature we rely on for successful tabletop and incipient response testing exercises.
For the record, we have also used MS Teams and Google Meet for conducting crisis tabletop exercises without too many issues. Consequently, most, if not all staff, are out of office, at home or travelling. Pandemic or not, testing of Incident Response Plans through a virtual conference room only makes sense.
In our opinion, Zoom is pretty seamless, it rarely has technical glitches if everyone has a decent internet connection, you can share screens, put people in waiting rooms or breakout rooms, making it ideal for managing a cyber crisis, especially in the current business environment.
Better Alternatives to Zoom? Yes, there are too many to list here. Here are some others that we use regularly. Like all software applications there will be known vulnerabilities and there will be Zero day exploits for each.
Please read the UK and US government guidance on how to ensure you better secure your video conferencing connections including, you guessed it, using common sense.
You can also consider our Breach Readiness Assessment to evaluate if your business is prepared to deal with a cyber-attack. Show comments. Contact us. Date: 17 June Like this article? Fair enough. But what to do when Zoom gets caught sending some of your analytics data to Facebook -- whether or not you even have a Facebook account? Courtesy of Facebook's Graph API, Zoom was telling Facebook whenever you opened the Zoom app, what phone or device you were using, and your phone carrier, location and a unique advertising identifier.
Motherboard also reported that Zoom had updated its iOS app so the app would stop sending certain data to Facebook. In a March blog post , Zoom addressed the issue, noting "our customers' privacy is incredibly important to us, and therefore we decided to remove the Facebook SDK in our iOS client and have reconfigured the feature so that users will still be able to log in with Facebook via their browser. As late as March , Zoom's privacy policy contained some breezy language about its relationship to third-party data crunchers, which gives one reason to question where else -- and to what extent -- that data was being shared or sold that we didn't know about.
We use these tools to help us improve your advertising experience such as serving advertisements on our behalf across the Internet, serving personalized ads on our website, and providing analytics services ," the policy said at the time. But at the end of March, Zoom updated its privacy policy.
In a statement following the move, Zoom said that while it wasn't changing any of its actual practices, it wanted to make its language clearer. Regarding its relationship to third-party data handlers described above, the company drew a line in the sand between its product and its website. No data regarding user activity on the Zoom platform -- including video, audio, and chat content -- is ever provided to third parties for advertising purposes," the company said. You should probably review your Zoom and device security settings with an eye toward minimizing permissions, and make sure any anti-tracking software on your device is up to date and running.
It's also important to keep your Zoom app up to date so your privacy is always protected with the latest security patches. Luckily, Zoom recently rolled out a new automatic update feature that makes this process a whole lot more convenient.
For more, check out how to use the sneaky Zoom Escaper tool to get out of your meetings, how to combat Zoom anxiety and Zoom fatigue , and how to make your video meetings a little less weird.
And, does Zoom's free plan have ads now? Your guide to a better future. Rae Hodge. Rae Hodge Senior Editor. Make sure you update your Zoom privacy settings. Read more: 20 Zoom video chat tips, tricks and hidden features Privacy experts previously expressed concerns about Zoom in , when the video-conferencing software experienced both a webcam hacking scandal , and a bug that allowed people to potentially join video meetings they hadn't been invited to , if those meetings weren't protected with a password.
Here are some of the privacy vulnerabilities in Zoom to keep an eye on. Zoom's cloud recording feature might share meeting video with people outside the call For paid subscribers, Zoom's cloud recording feature can either be a life-saver or a catastrophic faux pas waiting to happen. If you're in a meeting that's being recorded, Zoom's privacy notification will alert you. Zoom Read more: The best VPN services for Zoom even shared information with Facebook By now, you're used to hearing it from the privacy-minded: Don't use Facebook to log in to other sites and software unless you want Facebook to have data on what you're doing.
It may not help, but it can't hurt.
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