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For the past several weeks, supporting this influx of users has been a tremendous undertaking and our sole focus. We have strived to provide you with uninterrupted service and the same user-friendly experience that has made Zoom the video-conferencing platform of choice for enterprises around the world, while also ensuring platform safety, privacy, and security. However, we recognize that we have fallen short of the community’s – and our own – privacy and security expectations. For that, I am deeply sorry, and I want to share what we are doing about it.In the blog post, Yuan listed the changes that have been made to Zoom in recent days to address some of the security and privacy concerns. But more than that, Yuan says that Zoom is immediately freezing all work on new features to shift "all our engineering resources to focus on our biggest trust, safety, and privacy issues" and to conduct a comprehensive review with third-parties into ensuring the product's security. Sounds like they've got the message. Let's hope so. Having suddenly found itself with a gigantic increase in usage, Zoom was facing a crisis. It risked losing a large amount of the goodwill it had received because of revelations about its less-than-perfect attitude towards security and privacy. Of course, we're living in extraordinary times, and Zoom is a very good way for workers, friends and families to keep in contact while we're staying safe at home. And if you have to balance the positives of staying in touch with the potential risks that the Zoom program might introduce, then I completely understand why most of us would consider it a chance worth taking. But there's no reason why Zoom can't keep offering a good way to keep in touch *and* address security and privacy concerns. It appears that Zoom has already addressed some alarming vulnerabilities and is now recognizing publicly that it needs to focus more on fixing problems than adding bells and whistles. That's good news for all of us. Let's hope that the company's culture will change from its previous "fast and loose" attitude when it comes to such concerns. What can I, as a Zoom user, do to better protect myself? If you're going to continue to use Zoom, you would be wise to apply security updates as they become available to ensure that you are running the latest version of the software. Always be careful of unsolicited links sent to you out of the blue, as these may masquerade as invitations to join Zoom meetings or links to install security updates for Zoom. In addition, acquaint yourself with Zoom's security features to lock down meetings as well as ensure that no-one can share their screens without permission and that unauthorised parties are locked out.
Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in this guest author article are solely those of the contributor, and do not necessarily reflect those of Tripwire, Inc.
