Zoom Video Conferencing App, Warns Govt

The Cyber Coordination Centre (CCC) of the Ministry of Home Affairs has warned that the well-known Zoom video conferencing app for meetings is not a safe platform.

In the advisory it is mentioned that "secure use of Zoom meeting platform is for private individuals and not for use of government offices or official purposes". The government said that CERT-In on the same lines had been informed on February 6 and March 30 this year clarifying that "Zoom is not a safe platform".

‘Officials in the Home Ministry said that Zoom meeting platform app has some specific weaknesses so it is necessary to avoid its use for official purposes as it can encrypt meeting data.’

In a set of guidelines for the safety of private users, the CCC division of the MHA mentioned that "those private individuals who still would like to use Zoom for private purposes" should follow certain guidelines like prevention of unauthorized entry in conference room and unauthorized participants to carry out malicious activity on terminals of others in the conference. The advisory also suggested to "avoid 'DOS' attacks by restricting users through passwords and access grant".

Zoom app has apparently become a favorite and famous tool among people during the lockdown and it is being used by schools and many private players. "Most of the settings can be done by logging into users zoom account at website, or installed application at PC/Laptop/Phone and also during conduct of conference," the guidelines from MHA mentions.

Source: IANS