Is Zoom conferencing safe to use or not?

[Caute_cautim]

Hi All

According to "The Intercept" Zoom has some issues, which can result in data leakage, privacy and apparently has encryption issues.

Does it have issues, during this crisis, as it is being actively used even by New Zealand Government agencies too for updates: 

https://theintercept.com/2020/03/31/zoom-meeting-encryption/

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/zoom-privacy-issues-fbi-facebook-data-sharing-2020-3?r=US&IR=T

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/03/zooms-privacy-problems-are-growing-as-platform-explodes-...

Or does someone have an agenda against the company?

Regards

Caute_cautim

[kpinkham]

He also apologized about security lapses last July but they continued.

https://www.wired.com/story/zoom-flaw-web-server-fix/

[rslade]

Since it seems likely that China can surveil basically any Zoom meeting/call/chat, I think it would be a good idea, in national security terms, for everyone, as much as possible, to use Zoom for inconsequential family parties and so forth, so that important business and government meetings might get lost in the chaff ...

[rslade]

Ode to Zoom

[CraginS]

The story keeps getting worse.

First, the Zoom site had claimed they were using end-to-end encryption, when they are now known not to be. That was not a mistake, that was a lie.

Now, Washington Post has found that all ZOOM user recordings were using the same name, and a large number of them are discoverable as unencrypted  files on various storage sites.See

Thousands of Zoom video calls left exposed on open Web

Current promises to correct the recently exposed problems should be taken with a grain of salt; no, more like an entire salt shaker.

Craig

[CraginS]

More pieces are falling into place, and the picture is not pretty at all.

Neither the program and service ZOOM, nor any statements made by Eric Yuan or the company should be trusted.

@Caute_cautim @rslade @AppDefects @mgorman @kpinkham @dcontesti 

Read the article here:

Move Fast & Roll Your Own Crypto
A Quick Look at the Confidentiality of Zoom Meetings
By Bill Marczak and John Scott-Railton April 3, 2020

Craig

[Caute_cautim]

Well done Taiwan - some commonsense at last: 

https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/07/taiwans-government-bars-its-agencies-from-using-zoom-over-security...

I just love it, when you attempt to assist people, in Peerlyst for instance, and one gets lampooned for using commonsense - when someone just wants to make a name by putting in appropriate mitigations.

Zoom in okay for social interactions, but not for business or official purposes.

When in reality the whole solution is shot from the baseline upwards.

@rsladeThanks to Rob, I did read "The Claws of the Panda" as he suggested - it was a good read and well recommended.   I suggest many more do so. 

One wonders, why we bother to show our head above the parapet on occasions.

Regards

Caute_Cautim

[AppDefects]

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@CraginS wrote:

More pieces are falling into place, and the picture is not pretty at all.

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Famous last words...

[AppDefects]

Zoom shareholders have filed a class-action suit (PDF) in California. It alleges that Zoom violated securities law by covering up known problems with its product. Now the fun begins!

[rslade]

Patch Friday:

[CraginS]

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@rslade wrote:

Patch Friday:

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Rachel @AppDefects , John @Caute_cautim , and Grandpa Rob @rslade , 

As professionals in the field of security and privacy, we have nothing to worry about. The public will stop using ZOOM just a quickly as they all jumped off of FaceBook once its perfidy was apparent.

Craig