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The videoconferencing market is saturated with big names.
Yet somehow, over the last few weeks, Zoom has become synonymous with videoconferencing. http://read.medium.com/cbnFuIe
Yet somehow, over the last few weeks, Zoom has become synonymous with videoconferencing. http://read.medium.com/cbnFuIe
"When I ask people why they use Zoom, I repeatedly hear the same thing: It’s easy to get started. Even Zoom’s competitors say this." — @Simon_Pitt http://read.medium.com/cbnFuIe
There's a ton of competition in the videoconferencing world from huge names: Microsoft, Google, Apple, Facebook, Cisco.
When Zoom launched, investors were skeptical.
When Zoom launched, investors were skeptical.
The apps themselves are often tricky to build and difficult to use. http://read.medium.com/cbnFuIe
Still, Zoom's focus on ease of use, at the expense of everything including security, helped the app become popular.
This has also caused Zoom to shoot to prominence in the security community, for all the wrong reasons http://read.medium.com/cbnFuIe
This has also caused Zoom to shoot to prominence in the security community, for all the wrong reasons http://read.medium.com/cbnFuIe
In July, @JLLeitschuh discovered that Zoom installed software to bypass security mechanisms so it could launch with fewer clicks.
This also meant hackers could easily start webcams to watch users.
Worse yet, the bug remained even if you uninstalled Zoom. https://medium.com/bugbountywriteup/zoom-zero-day-4-million-webcams-maybe-an-rce-just-get-them-to-visit-your-website-ac75c83f4ef5
This also meant hackers could easily start webcams to watch users.
Worse yet, the bug remained even if you uninstalled Zoom. https://medium.com/bugbountywriteup/zoom-zero-day-4-million-webcams-maybe-an-rce-just-get-them-to-visit-your-website-ac75c83f4ef5
To give a sense of the seriousness of this security issue, within three days Apple force-deployed a silent update to every supported Mac in the world to remove the Zoom component. https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/10/apple-silent-update-zoom-app/
Yet, Zoom defended its decision.
“Our customers have told us that they choose Zoom for our frictionless video communications experience,” the company wrote in a blog post. https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2019/07/08/response-to-video-on-concern/
“Our customers have told us that they choose Zoom for our frictionless video communications experience,” the company wrote in a blog post. https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2019/07/08/response-to-video-on-concern/
This fiasco was just the tip of the iceberg
At one point, Zoom’s own privacy policy allowed the company to take video from private calls and use it to sell ads. https://www.consumerreports.org/privacy/zoom-tightens-privacy-policy-says-no-user-videos-analyzed-for-ads/
At one point, Zoom’s own privacy policy allowed the company to take video from private calls and use it to sell ads. https://www.consumerreports.org/privacy/zoom-tightens-privacy-policy-says-no-user-videos-analyzed-for-ads/
Harvard researcher @dsearls published four posts on Zoom’s security and privacy issues.
The full list of the issues, exploits, oversights, and dubious choices Zoom has made runs to thousands of words. https://blogs.harvard.edu/doc/2020/03/27/zoom/
The full list of the issues, exploits, oversights, and dubious choices Zoom has made runs to thousands of words. https://blogs.harvard.edu/doc/2020/03/27/zoom/
As recently as last week, hackers were selling two critical Zoom vulnerabilities that would allow someone to hack users and spy on their calls, according to @motherboard. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qjdqgv/hackers-selling-critical-zoom-zero-day-exploit-for-500000
As a result of these issues, Zoom is banned by Apple, Google, NASA, and many school districts.
And yet, Zoom continues to see its usage grow.
It’s easy. It has name recognition. It “just works.” http://read.medium.com/cbnFuIe
And yet, Zoom continues to see its usage grow.
It’s easy. It has name recognition. It “just works.” http://read.medium.com/cbnFuIe
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