How Do You Keep Safe On ZOOM?

The emergence of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic has caused significant adjustments in various sectors and occupations. One of the government’s policies to reduce the number of coronavirus outbreaks is to encourage people not to leave their homes and workers are asked to work from home commonly called work from home (WFH). In order to communicate for work related matters such as internal and external meetings to be carried out, an organization needs the use of online meeting technology. This technology enables meetings that are usually conducted face-to-face and can be done from anywhere and anytime. The main features expected from an online meeting technology in general are video & voice conference, text messaging, direct sharing of files, and shared screen between users. Apps like Zoom, Google Hangouts, Skype, and other online meeting apps have suddenly become very popular since the WFH has come about. One of the most used applications today to facilitate WFH in the world is Zoom. But is Zoom safe? How do you keep safe on Zoom? In this article, we will learn more about this app and how to limit risks when using Zoom app.

What is Zoom app?

Zoom is a very in demand application because it is very easy to use, with video & audio conference, collaboration, chat, webinar, shared screen, shared file system and can be accessed from desktop or smartphone. Zoom has reached over 100 million downloads thanks to the increase in the trend of meetings, teaching and learning online during the COVID-19 epidemic.

Zoom acknowledged a surge in the number of users since the Covid-19 and WFH pandemic phenomenon around the world. Zoom offers a paid and free version of the service. For the free version, Zoom provides a one-time meeting quota for 40 minutes with the number of participants meeting up to 100 participants. In addition, Zoom also offers security features in the form of SSL/TLS encryption for security and privacy guarantees through the internet network, as well as end to end encryption with AES 256 algorithm to secure content on the application layer. Of course this becomes an attraction for users who carry out WFH and are currently in desperate need of multi-purpose applications such as Zoom. In addition to the free plan, Zoom also offers paid plans with many advanced features, priced from $14.99/month/host.

Zoom’s security-related issues

At the end of March 2020, zoom’s security-related issues emerged over the data and privacy of its users. Zoom has been issued with privacy and security warnings by U.S. security agencies.

Zoom version for the operating system on iOS was found to have conveniently transferred user data such as information about the model, time zone, province/city, carrier, location, facebook, but users were not notified in advance. This scandal caused Zoom to be sued by consumers in the US. At the same time, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan acknowledged security issues as well as privacy violations and apologized to users.

How do you keep safe on Zoom?

BBC News reported that Zoom did not actually implement end to end encryption as promoted. It is conveyed that Zoom collects user data for service analysis while utilizing it for business purposes. Privacy issues of concern are monitoring the activities of meeting participants by the host meeting itself, as well as the Administrator of Zoom service who can see details of user activities including the results of record meetings, operating systems, IP addresses, location data and device information used by users.

Another online media from Europe KSTP, also reported that the FBI warned Zoom users about “zoom-bombing” reports. Zoom-bombing is a term that arised because there were many reports from Zoom users who felt disturbed when online meetings were held. This happened because of the influx of uninvited online meeting participants disrupting the course of the meeting in various ways such as sudden shouting, displaying pornographic, threats and even hate speech.

Key Risks in using Zoom app

Zoom Cloud Meetings is an online video meeting app with a free version that allows a meeting that lasts 40 minutes of HD image quality and up to 100 participants. However, according to experts, zoom application has 2 main vulnerabilities:

The first is that Zoom Bombing is easily taken advantage of by hackers because meeting IDs are randomly generated and most users don’t set passwords.

Secondly, the content of learning & working on Zoom is not really end-to-end encrypted so it is easy to be read by hackers after it has been hacked.

How to use Zoom safely?

To make Zoom safer, what we can do is:

>Regular Zoom updates are intended to add new options and features, as well as to fix other security vulnerabilities.

>Create a meeting password by selecting Meetings > Edit > Enabled Required Meeting Password and then entering your password > Save.

>When you start joining an online meeting, select More > Meeting Settings and start using meeting participant controls like Lock Meeting, Lock Share, Allow Participants to Chat with..

>The host user who creates a meeting room must first enable the “Require Encryption for 3rd Party Endpoints” setting before the meeting starts.

>Hosts can also increase online meeting security from Zoom-bombing threats by enabling room meeting password protection, locked-meeting, and special permissions for meeting participants via email. These security features already exist in Zoom but are not enabled by default.

>Be more aware of the invitation link URL provided by the host meeting. Invitation links can be easily distributed through social media and can be utilized by unauthorized parties for zoom bombing.

>Avoid using Zoom application for confidential meetings, because “End to End Encryption” does not apply to Zoom video meeting feature and Zoom can still read video and audio data through the server.

It is important to be wise when using online meeting applications, including the use of ZOOM application. App users must have a good understanding or security awareness about app security and have the prudence to secure data and information shared in the digital world. One way is to read and understand the privacy and security policy that has been given by online meeting application developers. Both officially issued by the application developer and reviews from experts in Cyber Security.

Steps taken by Zoom

After the many warnings given, Zoom itself took positive actions to regain the trust of users. These can be mentioned as:

>>Invited former Facebook Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos to work as Zoom security advisor.
>>Enhanced program detection and correction of related errors.
>>Directly contacted the Governments of the countries, actively cooperate to clarify the necessary information.

Summary

Zoom applications do not 100% apply “End to End Encryption” to the services they provide. “End to End Encryption” is only applied to meeting text chat feature utilizing Hybrid Crypto System. While the security of video meeting feature is done using TLS Connection and Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP). TLS Connection is widely implemented in client server communications such as HTTPs and is not considered an “End to End Encryption” because service providers can still read data on the server side.

Zoom’s feature for “End to End Encryption” is debated today because it can harm users and other similar online meeting service providers. Zoom is considered to have provided information that is not in accordance with its implementation to attract customers.

Zoom has provided official clarification regarding the types of user data collected and utilized for Zoom’s internal purposes and is not published or traded.

A good application, easy to install and use by everyone but Zoom Cloud Meetings really need to be serious about security, information security for users if they want to develop long-term.

If Zoom is not the best choice, you can also look to other free online meeting applications such as Google Hangouts Meet, Microsoft Teams, Skype..

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How do you keep safe on Zoom?