Various school organizations in the US ban the use of video calling app Zoom

Various organizations of schools in the United States have banned the use of video calling app Zoom. Many students and teachers report unauthorized persons entering during video calling and spreading unwanted messages.

School organizations in New York City and a region in the state of Nevada, among others, are banning schools from using Zoom any longer, writes The Washington Post. The main reason for this is that ‘zoombombing’ is possible, whereby unauthorized persons enter a conference and show unwanted images, such as racist or pornographic video images, via the ‘screensharing’ function. The organizations want schools to call via alternative Microsoft Teams.

Earlier, authorities in New York took a close look at Zoom’s security policy, after questions were raised about it. In addition to zoombombing, the video calling service faces many other vulnerabilities that are now coming to light, such as email address leaks, the ability to retrieve Windows passwords, and use of an old, vulnerable API. on macOS that allowed attackers to gain access to a device’s microphone and camera.

In the meantime, Zoom has apologized for the many vulnerabilities and said that the company has stopped working on new features for 90 days, but only wants to improve the security and privacy of users. Zoom usage rose from 10 million active users a few months ago to 200 million today.