As you may have heard, the Zoom platform is taking some heat in the mainstream media lately.
You can read more about “what they say” here: https://www.nbcnews.com
Of course the Zoom’s company is in full damage control, as you can see at their blog. https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/
So, let me share a few words with you about this topic and let me also explain why we are still using Zoom, and we will do so even in the future.
Today the new keyword is ZoomBombing, which means “people entering to your Zoom room disrupting whatever you’re doing.” Let me be clear: Zoom allows us to password-protect the Zoom Meetings since day one. But very few are using it, because in case “the Zoom Link” doesn’t work, you have to enter manually not only the Meeting ID usually made of 9 digits but also a password made of 6 digits. Some people complain about that, so to keep them happy, the vast majority of the people are not using it.
If you have a Zoom meeting without the password, anybody who guesses a number may find your Zoom Room and join you. But if you do use the password, even for an experienced hacker will be virtually impossible to join your meeting without the invitation. Now, let me ask you: who’s fault is the Zoom Bombings? 😉
Issue #2: Zoom supposedly shared some data with Facebook and they didn’t tell that in their privacy policy. Some people texted me on WhatsApp about this. They are all anxious because I introduced them to Zoom and what now that Zoom tells everything to Facebook. My first answer usually is: do you realize that you’re manifesting to me your concern using WhatsApp, which IS OWNED by Facebook itself? Are you aware that Facebook paid almost 20 billion USD to buy WhatsApp, which is a company that has never made one Dollar of profit?
I took a look, however, to understand what was the issue. It appears that the Zoom’s extra-room chat from the iOs client (Apple computers) sent some data to FB. Besides, very few people use that feature at all. In my personal opinion, that was a mistake from somebody in the engineering stuff at Zoom, because they used Facebook’s API in a weird/wrong way. So why the world-wide campaign against Zoom for a nothing-burger? I do not have an answer. (but I might have a couple of ideas.)
Anyway: internet security is something “not visible” and utterly alien to most people, while it should be a priority. I will try to do my part to teach you the basics.
Thursday, I will host the Webinar about this. We will also have time for a friendly Q&A session.
Take care!
Martin
