The government warned its officials about the Zoom app, according to an advisory sent by the Cyber Coordination Centre (CyCord) of the Ministry of Home Affairs. This step by the government comes days after the national cyber-security agency, Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-In) advised against using it.
In this advisory issued on April 12, the CyCord has emphasized security fears saying “It is not a safe platform”. However, CyCord adds that private individuals can still use it. Private individuals, who still want to use it are recommended security guidelines. On February 6 and March 30, CERT-In released a similar advisory and cautioned against the app’s vulnerabilities. “Insecure usage of the platform (Zoom) may allow cybercriminals to access sensitive information such as meeting details and conversations,” the document said.
Guidelines to follow while using the Zoom app
The security guidelines by the government include the ways to hide personal meeting IDs and enabling the requirement for passwords. Individuals are advised to enable “waiting room” feature so that hosts can have better control over the participants. It also provides settings to restrict third-party access to virtual meetings which media has termed as “Zoombombing”.
Rise in Privacy Concerns
This video conferencing app crossed the mark of 200 million daily users because of the coronavirus pandemic. As the lockdown has forced people to work from home. The increase in privacy concerns for the Zoom app is due to its unexpected growth. Originally for enterprise customers, it gained demand in schools and among people as it allows them to connect together virtually. However, Zoom has acknowledged and has suspended future updates to resolve existing privacy and security issues.
To read more about video conferencing being used in important matters in these testing times, please click here.
