Zoom hires ex-Facebook security chief Alex Stamos as Google bans desktop app
- Safety and privacy concerns about Zoom’s fast-growing videoconferencing app is driving a global backlash against the company
- Taiwan and Germany have put restrictions on Zoom’s use, while some companies like SpaceX and Google have banned the app
In a stark illustration of Zoom’s security issues, officials at Berkeley High School in California said they suspended use of the app after a “naked adult male using racial slurs” intruded on what the school said was a password-protected meeting on Zoom, according to a letter to parents seen by Reuters.
A Berkeley school district spokeswoman said it was possible a password had been shared, allowing the intrusion. But she added that the entire district was putting Zoom on pause for at least “a few days” to consider how to use and train for videoconferencing.
Coronavirus lockdowns have driven a surge in Zoom usage, even as concerns have grown over its lack of end-to-end encryption of meeting sessions, routing of traffic through China and “zoombombing,” when uninvited guests crash meetings.