The FBI has warned citizens of the breach that is occurring through the popular "Zoom" Meetings app, after two classes on the network were compromised while using video calls.
"Zoom has witnessed a massive increase in the number of users since the Coruna epidemic forced a large number of people to stay in their homes and resort to video meetings for work, study or social interactions," US media said.
The so-called "zoombombing", which is the presence of unwanted guests intruding into video meetings for malicious purposes, has increased significantly in recent days.
Criticism has escalated over the past two days due to these intrusions, in addition to sharing data with Facebook, misuse of permissions on Mac devices, lack of clarity on how to properly encrypt data, and a vulnerability that is said to display Windows logon credentials for hackers.
Reuters reported on Wednesday that Elon Musk's "SpaceX" had prevented employees from using the Zoom application, citing "significant privacy and security concerns."
An email sent to employees on Saturday stated that access to the ZOOM application within the company had been disabled.
"We understand that many of us have been using this tool for conferences and meetings, please use email, text or phone as an alternative method of communication," SpaceX said in an email.
| "Zoom" CEO admitted that the application was not ready for the high demand for his services (Reuters) |
The recent breakthroughs in the Zoom application scrutinized New York Attorney General Letitia James, so he sent a letter to the company asking for an explanation of the cause of the privacy holes, and asked about the steps the company had put in to keep users safe, given the increased traffic on its network.
On the same day, security researchers revealed two other errors that could allow hackers to control webcams and microphones on Mac users' Zoom devices.
The founder and CEO of the company, Eric Yuan, on Thursday apologized for any reported security vulnerabilities this week, and outlined what the company was doing to fix the problems.
"We realize that we have not lived up to the expectations of our users regarding privacy and security, so I am very sorry," Yuan said, explaining that the product is designed for organizations conducting massive "security reviews" to implement it, and stressed that he was not designed to deal in a matter of weeks with so many Users.
He committed his company to privacy over the next 90 days, and would freeze work on all other features, and company teams would focus on looking for gaps, rewarding people who discovered and reported security flaws, and reviewing the platform with experts from third parties.
Yuan pledged to host a weekly online seminar on Wednesday at 7 am ET to discuss the company's progress.
Zoom shares decreased by up to 16% this morning, and declined by more than 7%, about an hour after the opening bell.
Yuan founded "Zoom" in 2011, and started trading on the company's shares on April 18, 2019, at a price of $ 36 per share, and reached a 52-week high of $ 164.90 on March 23.