Indian government says Zoom is 'not safe' to use
What's the story
Zoom, the video conferencing app that shot to fame before being embroiled in several privacy-related debacles, has been red-flagged by the Indian government. An advisory issued by the Union Home Ministry says that the app is not safe to use and provided a set of instructions for the safety of people who "still would like to use Zoom for private purpose[s]". Here's more.
Issues
Zoom is vulnerable to cyber-attacks: CERT-In
On March 30, India's Computer Emergency Response Team issued a notice raising concerns over the safety of the Zoom app. It flagged the issue of 'zoom-bombing', saying that the service is vulnerable to cyber-attacks that could result in the participation of unauthorized users in meetings and leakage of sensitive data, including the details of a virtual meeting or the conversations taking place in it.
Guidelines
Now, government is offering 'safety guidelines'
The Cyber Coordination Center of the Ministry of Home Affairs has now issued an advisory reiterating the same concerns and offering public guidelines to make Zoom chat meetings safer. Basically, it instructs people to enable/disable settings required to prevent unauthorized entry in an ongoing Zoom conference meeting, the malicious activity of authorized participants as well as DOS (denial-of-service) attacks.
Quote
Most of the settings can be enabled via Zoom app/website
"Most of the settings can be done by login into users zoom account at website or installed application at PC/Laptop/Phone and also during conduct of conference. However certain settings are possible through certain mode/channel only (sic)," the government advisory notes.
Weaknesses
Senior ministry official says Zoom has technical weaknesses
Following the government's advisory, a senior Home Ministry official told NDTV that Zoom has issues related to privacy and security, as most of its servers are located in China - which could risk the data of virtual meetings. They added that the Centre firmly believes the app has significant weaknesses and is also involved in dubious practices.
Twitter Post
And, this is ironical
Earlier Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had posted a pic where he was seen using Zoom for a virtual meeting. pic.twitter.com/HskpfKZnl6
— vijaita singh (@vijaita) April 16, 2020
Previous issues
Lately, several Zoom issues have surfaced
India's advisory comes as Zoom rushes to address the privacy and security of its app, which has been embroiled in controversies ranging from unauthorized data collection and meeting leaks to sale of active accounts. In fact, to fix things, the company has already introduced some changes like forming a security council and launching privacy-focused features such as data center selection for paid users.