As UK Cabinet has Zoom Digital Meeting New York Attorney General Questions its Security

WITH the increased number of people working from home around the world due to the coronavirus Covid-19 crisis, many have flocked to use the videoconferencing app Zoom but there is some disquiet over its security.

New York’s Attorney General has taken the somewhat unusual step of writing to the organisation voicing concerns over its ability to cope with security following the rise in users.

So popular has it become that is now the number two app of its type in the UK and recently Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted a picture of himself chairing a Cabinet meeting using Zoom.

It does however have a record of security problems and appears to take some time to correct errors when they occur such as allowing spoof messages, hijack of shared screens and forcing users into making unnecessary calls.

Apps such as WhatsApp offer end-to-end encryption which makes communication secure but Zoom doesn’t do this and there are allegations that sometimes customers can see each other’s private data.

An online news publication The Intercept says that it has been told by Zoom that “Currently, it is not possible to enable E2E encryption for Zoom video meetings” which according to the news publisher means that it can access the video and audio of meetings.

Considering the fears that the US government has with regards to Chinese manufacturer Huawei and security, the possible problems with Zoom are obvious and explain the decision by the Attorney General to raise the matter with the company.

Whilst most of us don’t really care about people accessing our innocent chats, if you are the Prime Minister and a foreign company can see and hear what you are saying, it might be a little worrying.