Table of contents:
We have used Zoom until we got bored during the confinement. Those who had tried it before perfected their mastery. Those who still did not know it have entered a new world of light and color that until now they were unaware of. Although, more than light and color, judging by the latest news that reaches us, Zoom's would be more of a story of shadows
This Monday an agreement was announced between Zoom and the FTC, in which it was revealed that the owners of this company dedicated to video calls had lied to their users, by not encrypting end-to-end 256 bits the communications between them.In this way, since 2016 they had provided users with a much lower level of security than promised. According to the FTC, which through an agreement required Zoom to comply with higher security requirements, explained that those responsible for Zoom would have been able to access everything that customers shared through their meetings , detailed in PhoneArena.
Zoom, a trap for the privacy of millions of users
This is not a trivial question: Zoom has millions of users around the world According to the FTC's own data, in July 2019, the tool had 600,000 subscribers. The majority, specifically 88%, were small companies, with around 10 employees or even less. They used video calls to communicate efficiently and securely with their employees, customers, and collaborators.
What happened in 2020 was something unexpected. At the end of 2019, users increased to a staggering 10 million, but since the lockdown, around April 2020, more than 300 million users were connected to ZoomHence, there were many who were seriously busy making sure that Zoom was indeed a secure tool for making professional video calls, with often confidential content.
During this time, Zoom has made some statements about the security level of its tool. He explained, for example, that this was one of his highest priorities and he promised to protect the privacy of users So much so that he has been saying since 2016 that all his Communications have the famous end-to-end encryption, which is what guarantees that communications cannot be intercepted.
To give users reassurance that this was being done, they even placed a green padlock in the top corner of each of the meetings that were held with Zoom. Hovering over it with the mouse would read "Zoom is using an end-to-end encrypted connection."
Zoom lied about his encryption procedures
We now know thatZoom did not tell the whole truth about the security of his video conferencing tool. They justify themselves on his blog saying that they have not wanted to deceive anyone and that there are discrepancies about the concept of "end-to-end encryption."
According to the FTC, these meetings were not stored encrypted,quite the contrary. For 60 days, before moving to Zoom's secure storage, those logs were left in a kind of limbo, on the Zoom server and unencrypted.
Also, the investigation conducted by the FTC is not convincing to everyone. The politicians who have sat down at the table studying the case say that not enough has been done and that Zoom has not been sufficiently punished for having lied to the users. Even so, and even if the case is falsely closed, it is very likely that in the coming months the company will have to face the demands of clients and investors. Time will tell.
