The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued an advisory that Zoom video conference is not a safe platform. Zoom is an online video-conferencing application/software
The Cyber Coordination Centre (CCC) of the Ministry of Home Affairs has warned in an advisory issued last week.
Government put out a set of guidelines for the safety of individual private users who “still would like to use Zoom for private purpose”. Zoom bombing has apparently become a favourite past time of people during the lockdown.
U.S. based Zoom video communication has seen an exponential rise in usage in India as office-goers remain at home owing to the lockdown triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The software used in the online platform is said to be made in China and some calls were also being routed through servers in China.
The Cyber Coordination Centre of the MHA issued a set of guidelines for safe usage by private individuals. It was not for use by government offices and government officials, the Ministry noted.
The March 30 note posted on the CERT-In website said, “Zoom is a popular video conferencing platform. Insecure usage of the platform may allow cyber criminals to access sensitive information such as meeting details and conversations.”
It asked users to set strong passwords and enable “waiting room” feature so that call managers could have a better control over the participants.
Google has reportedly banned the Zoom app from all employees’ computers over security vulnerabilities and Singapore has banned teachers using Zoom after hackers posted obscene images on screens. The app has also been banned for usage in Germany, Singapore and Taiwan.
