Google bans Zoom from its employees’ laptops, cities “security” concerns: Report

Google bans Zoom from its employees’ laptops, cities “security” concerns: Report

Google has sent out an email to its employees warning them about the "security vulnerabilities" of Zoom. The tech giant also stated that "the videoconferencing software on employee laptops would stop working starting this week."

By: Tech Desk | New Delhi | Updated: April 9, 2020 

Google bans Zoom from its employees’ laptops, cities “security” concerns: Report

Zoom has been there for a while but has become extremely popular since the lockdown was announced due to COVID-19 pandemic. People across the world are using the video calling platform to host office conferences and connect with colleagues at the time of social distancing. Everything was going well for Zoom until it was marred by security and privacy concerns. Taking the controversy into consideration Google has now banned Zoom from its employees’ laptops, reported BuzzFeed News.

According to the publication, Google has sent out an email to its employees warning them about the “security vulnerabilities” of Zoom. The tech giant also stated that “the videoconferencing software on employee laptops would stop working starting this week.”

Jose Castaneda, a Google spokesperson, told BuzzFeed News “We have long had a policy of not allowing employees to use unapproved apps for work that are outside of our corporate network.”

Castaneda further said, “Recently, our security team informed employees using Zoom Desktop Client that it will no longer run on corporate computers as it does not meet our security standards for apps used by our employees. Employees who have been using Zoom to stay in touch with family and friends can continue to do so through a web browser or via mobile.”

What’s the controversy?

Last month an investigation by Motherboard revealed that the Zoom app for iPhone and iPads sent some user data from their devices to Facebook. Shockingly including the data of users who don’t have a Facebook account.

That wasn’t it. Additionally, a report from The Intercept revealed that Zoom calls aren’t encrypted unlike what the company claims. Amid all the controversies last week Zoom revealed that some video calls were “mistakenly” routed through servers in China. And said that it shouldn’t have happened.

Zoom banned by others

Alongside Google, SpaceX also banned its employees from using the video conferencing application citing “significant privacy and security concerns” as reported by Reuters. Education departments such as New York City’s Department of Education have also urged schools to not use Zoom for video classes and switch to Microsoft’s Skype.

Source : https://indianexpress.com