Using Zoom? Here’s How to Stay Safe While Chatting With Your Team

Some of you may be using it to chat with friends, but for most of us Zoom has become the main work tool. To brainstorm, delegate, keep the team updated or just… enjoy happy hour like we used to!

And where lots of people go to spill secrets, hackers follow. It was just a matter of time until Zoom caved under security attacks and privacy breaches. After all, since late February, when Zoom welcomed users to gather ‘round, there have been 200 million of us meeting daily! Just think about it – the entire population of Brazil is a bit over 212 million people! 

Shocked? Not as much as Zoom probably! Back in December, they were looking at 10 million people accessing Zoom per day. 

It’s becoming a prankster heaven. Lately, Zoom has confronted vulnerabilities, data-sharing accusations and Zoombombing. What’s that? Well, it’s the same as photobombing with two big differences. One, your public or private call will be ruined, not a simple photo.  Two, instead of a stranger’s face, you’ll be interrupted by an R-rated or violent video. 

If these pranks were April Fools’ related, maybe we’d let it slide. But these attacks are used to gather personal information about the attendees and sensitive information about their business. No wonder the US Attorney of Eastern Michigan, the FBI and the state attorney general agreed to punish these as criminal offenses. 

Months ago, turning Zoom into a weapon might have seemed ridiculous, now it’s a reality. Depending on the seriousness of the crime committed, hackers are facing fines and even imprisonment.

Corporations are not the only ones targeted, schools are too. With minors’ privacy at stake, no effort should be spared to stop the cyberattackers.

There’s one silver lining, though: Zoom’s lightning-speed defensive measures. After what I told you, you’re probably thinking Zoom is not a safe platform to use anymore. They’re in over their heads! And… you would not be wrong. 

However, ever since users, software engineers and journalists spoke up, Zoom has done surprisingly well at protecting users. A MacOS installer that skipped the final consent step was fixed. A LinkedIn integration that exposed the real LinkedIn profiles of Zoom users – even anonymous ones – was removed. Zoom ditched the Facebook SDK from their iOS app to prevent its user data from getting into Facebook’s hands.

That’s just the beginning, by the way. Watch the video above to know how their privacy policy changed and our tips and tricks to stay safe while Zoom-ing!