The New York Times has reported that Taiwan’s government agencies are advised by the cabinet not to use Zoom over privacy and security concerns.
Zoom Video Communications Inc has been under a lot of fire recently over its lack of end-to-end encryption, highlighting privacy and security concerns.
The amount of daily users for Zoom has increased to over 200 million in March. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments to lock down cities and employees to work from home.
The reason behind Zoom’s sudden boom is because it’s free to use with business-grade capabilities such as video conferencing and webinars, compared to Microsoft’s Skype for Business, Cisco’s Webex or Google Meets which requires a subscription.
Zoom users have reported “zoombombing” as well, where uninvited guests were able to crash into other people’s meetings, further highlighting privacy and security concerns on Zoom’s platforms.
In a memo by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security distributed to government officials, Zoom has been responsive to concerns over its software.
Zoom’s CEO, Eric Yuan, has apologized in a blog post for falling short of users expectations and are actively taking steps to resolve the issues.