Zoom Is Under Fire For Security And Privacy Practices

With so many people around the world working from home and quarantined, the web-based video conferencing tool, Zoom, is more popular than ever. Unfortunately, that means that some of the platform's imperfections are also getting exposed.

Per The New York Times, Leticia James, the New York attorney general, sent a letter to Zoom asking about what (if any) new security measures have been put into place to handle to increase of traffic to its network. The letter also addresses recent problems the platform has had with hackers.  For example, hackers recently exploited Zoom's screen sharing featured and were able to hijack meetings and interrupt educational sessions. There has also been an increase of "zoombombings," which is when someone takes over the screen-sharing function to post porn, racist messages, or other shocking videos.

In the letter, they explain, "while Zoom has remediated specific reported security vulnerabilities, we would like to understand whether Zoom has undertaken a broader review of its security practices."

Since receiving the letter, Zoom has updated its privacy policy. They've also released a statement. In it, they assure users that there are taking its "users’ privacy, security and trust extremely seriously." They also say they've been "working around the clock to ensure that hospitals, universities, schools and other businesses across the world can stay connected and operational." Zoom adds, "We appreciate the New York attorney general's engagement on these issues and are happy to provide her with the requested information."