working from home, Zoom has become increasingly important in recent months and by the same token, so has the gaps in its security features, with encryption having been one of the most controversial.
With a COVID-19 pandemic causing so many to work from home, and in some cases, entire business operations moving online, the need for sufficient levels of protection have never been greater. This is regardless of whether the (or the company) is a paid or free customer of a platform like Zoom.
While Zoom had previously announced it was readying better security through the addition of end-to-end encryption, at the time, the company also made it abundantly clear that the highest level of protection was being reserved for paid Zoom customers. Those using the free service would get better protection as well, but not an end-to-end level. However, after mounting pressure, the company has since revised it position and announced it will now offer all s end-to-end encryption.
How Free Zoom End-to-End Encryption Works
Although Zoom has now confirmed end-to-end encryption will be available to all s, the important point to note is that it won’t be enabled by default. Instead, the company will automatically use AES 256-bit GCM encryption when it comes to free s. The company says that activating end-to-end encryption limits some of the service’s functionality and therefore, s will have to manually activate the feature as and when required. Essentially, free Zoom hosts will need to turn on end-to-end encryption on a per-meeting basis.
In addition, s will need to first authenticate their before they are able to use end-to-end encryption. Similar to other services that offer a comparable level of protection, this will include a one-time process that requires s to hand over additional personal data. In explaining this, Zoom uses ing a phone number as an example.
While a default use of end-to-end encryption is the ideal, at least having the option available is what ultimately matters. The advanced level of protection not only ensures s of the video-conferencing solution can use the service safely, but also without having to feel that they must pay a monthly fee for the protections they should be getting for free. international government requests. The number of U-turns Zoom keeps needing to make highlights how this is still a service that’s finding its feet, in spite of the recent spike in s.
Source: Zoom