You can opt never to have Zoom calls routed through China, but only when you pay
Videoconferencing platform Zoom is rolling out a number of measures designed to stem criticism over how it has handled security as users flock to the application during the coronavirus pandemic.
Zoom leader Eric Yuan organized steps Wednesday that the business is taking against problems such as for example data hacking and harassment by people who crash sessions in what's referred to as “Zoombombing.”
By week’s end, paid members should be able to select which regions their data is routed through during their sessions in a move apparently targeted at concerns over information passing through China where it could be subject to snooping.
“As a reminder, meeting servers in China have always been geofenced with the purpose of ensuring that meeting data of users beyond China stays beyond China,” Zoom said within an online post.
The Silicon Valley startup also said that it's working with cyber-security firm Luta Security to overhaul processes and its “bug bounty” program that pays rewards to researchers who find security flaws in its operations.
Zoom also addressed a recently available report that users’ log-in information had been sold by criminals on the “dark web.”
The credentials were likely stolen elsewhere on the web, or by malicious code slipped into people’s computers, according to Zoom advisor Alex Stamos, former chief of security at Facebook.
It isn't uncommon for hackers to take passwords and account names pilfered in data breaches and then check whether people utilize them for other online services.
Zoom said it is building systems to “detect whether people are trying out username and password pairings and block them from trying again.”
Improvements to Zoom security likewise incorporate a toolbar to easily access features such as locking chats from strangers and making meeting password requirements a default setting.
“To successfully scale a video-heavy platform to such a size with no appreciable downtime and in the area of weeks is literally unprecedented in the annals of the internet,” Stamos said in a post.
“The related security challenges are fascinating.”
India this week banned the application of Zoom for government remote meetings, saying it “is not a safe platform.”
The New York school system has also banned the videoconferencing platform predicated on security concerns.
Prosecutors from several US states are meanwhile investigating the company’s privacy and security practices, and the FBI has warned of Zoom sessions being hijacked.
According to Yuan, the quantity of people taking part in Zoom meetings daily eclipsed 200 million in March, up from just 10 million by the end of last year.
