Coronavirus: Zoom is in everyone's living room - how safe is it?

[Thesauron]

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-52033217

 

Zoom has had some issues in the past...

[carlos]

I guess any software has some weak points that could be exploited by someone ill-intentioned. Windows has them. And WhatsApp. But we have used Zoom for years at work and never had any issue. The risk seems to be minimal.

 

 

 

 

[pnutts]

We just added a password for tomorrow's meeting.

[Thesauron]

I guess any software has some weak points that could be exploited by someone ill-intentioned. Windows has them. And WhatsApp. But we have used Zoom for years at work and never had any issue. The risk seems to be minimal.
 
 
 
 

The willingness to abuse it just increased with the number of users downloading it during the Corona pandemic. Maintaining an up to date computer system and virus protection, etc, should help, but far too many think it doesn’t apply to them.

[Thesauron]

Trolls exploit Zoom privacy settings as app gains popularity

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/mar/27/trolls-zoom-privacy-settings-covid-19-lockdown

We just added a password for tomorrow's meeting.

This is a very good idea.

[Hinata]

We had an unknown individual enter our meeting other day. (Was password protected.) It ended without any problem thankfully. The brother deemed that it may have been someone other invited from the congregation but in the end we never got to know. The weird part is that he had the video cam on, and it was constantly showing an empty part of the supposedly his room.

 

Of course, these are not the problem of Zoom itself but malicious users.

 

2 hours ago, Thesauron said:

Maintaining an up to date computer system and virus protection, etc, should help, but far too many think it doesn’t apply to them.

 

Recently one of our brother's computer were a target of a ransomware virus. It might seem like because the global traffic is now onto internet, the  computer viruses are just become more prone to spread. (That may be ironic.)

[well]

So any setting that I should pay attention for? In case of protecting ourselves?

[Thesauron]

Here are some suggestions from Cornell University:

https://it.cornell.edu/zoom/keep-zoom-meetings-private

I’m sure you guys can come up with more suggestions.

[Luigi62]

Personal Question. who sings the songs at home while streaming the meetings?

[outwalkin]

We do! (2 people)

[tekmantwo]

1 hour ago, Luigi62 said:

Personal Question. who sings the songs at home while streaming the meetings?

We do....at least I make noise that almost follows the music....

[Thesauron]

Back to Zoom Security.

How to Keep the Party Crashers from Crashing Your Zoom Event

https://blog.zoom.us/wordpress/2020/03/20/keep-the-party-crashers-from-crashing-your-zoom-event/

[Hartley]

4 hours ago, Luigi62 said:

Personal Question. who sings the songs at home while streaming the meetings?

We do

[Cheeks]

I am biased because we use Skype at work but was curious why the decision of Zoom over Skype? I always thought Skype was the most safest option available for these types of things.


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[pnutts]

Personally I dislike Skype since it always seemed to sound tinny and poor quality video. Maybe it is a lot better now. Skype is now owned by Microsoft.

[Thesauron]

Zoom's iOS app no longer sends data to Facebook

https://mashable.com/article/zoom-ios-data-facebook/?europe=true

[campanula]

I use VPN for extra protection. 

[Thesauron]

I am biased because we use Skype at work but was curious why the decision of Zoom over Skype? I always thought Skype was the most safest option available for these types of things.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You’d have to ask your local BOE.

[EccentricM]

On 3/29/2020 at 4:31 PM, Cheeks said:

I am biased because we use Skype at work but was curious why the decision of Zoom over Skype? I always thought Skype was the most safest option available for these types of things.


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I was told by an Elder it was because 1. It's cheaper to pay for Zoom than Skype 2. You get better service quality on Zoom over Skype for the money too.

[Thesauron]

Zoom security bug lets attackers steal Windows passwords

https://mashable.com/article/zoom-vulnerability-windows-passwords/?europe=true

[Beggar for the Spirit]

A brother just sent me a video clip, what was it?

It was a recording of a Zoom WT meeting where on the person's screen it showed the multiple small camera views of various brothers/sisters watching the meeting in their home, but this video focused on 1 sister who was walking around getting a bottle of wine and then pouring some wine and drinking it during the meeting. I think this Zoom video may have been manipulated somehow. Or maybe somebody uninvited "crashed the party" by sneaking onto that congregation's Zoom meeting and did this purposefully and recorded the video with the purpose of sending this video out on social media to mock us. Then when some brothers/sisters see it and are shocked by believing that this really happened, a "sister" drinking wine right on video during the meeting, they then send it to their friends? 

But when I mentioned these possibilities to the brother who sent it to me, he believes it to be real and that it shows how some are just too relaxed at the meeting.  Hopefully this video does not keep being spread. 

Edited April 2, 2020 by Beggar for the Spirit

[Qapla]

We used Skype for some of out HOT meetings - we had problems. To keep from having the video and the sound from stuttering, hanging and in general being poor, all but the host had to turn our cameras off. ALL of us couldn't have had low bandwidth or underpowered devices - since this happened with different Brothers hosting .... we concluded the problem was with Skype. The Maintenance Training program ended in March so we did not get the chance to try Zoom or any other conferencing program.

 

We have not experienced that with Zoom. at any of our Congregation meeting or gatherings.

 

That said, the Branch did allow for Congregations to use either platform. Most have chosen Zoom because it is easy to use and seems stable.

 

My guess would be that the Branch chose to use Zoom because they found it superior to other platforms - they usually make use of what works best.

 

[Thesauron]

 
My guess would be that the Branch chose to use Zoom because they found it superior to other platforms - they usually make use of what works best.
 

It is a good platform, and extensively used in the business world. But it has been fraught with issues regarding security, something the articles above highlight. The basic ones are easy to adjust. Like, making sure the meeting in your congregation is protected by a password. The brothers were rather quick to adjust that. A thing for the future will be how often to change that password.

Other things are harder, such as considering what machine you can safely use. Some companies have moved away from Zoom during the last few weeks, since with it’s recent popularity, it has also become a target used by people with less than honest motifs.

[Qapla]

Currently, Zoom is the most popular video conferencing app so it has become the prime target of hackers. Had everyone started using Skype - I'm sure we would have articles in the news about the security issue of that app because it would be a prime target of hackers.

 

What ever app is the most popular at a given time is the one that becomes the prime target of hackers - it is what they do.

 

It would not matter what app we use - they can ALL be hacked. If one person can figure out how to secure an app, another person can figure out how to breach that security.

 

We should not be paranoid about Zoom not being "secure". There is nothing secret about our meetings ... before the pandemic we were inviting the public to our meetings.

 

Have there been some secular corporations that have moved away from Zoom ... yes. However, have they started using another app that is more "secure" ... no! There are no absolutely secure video conferencing apps available - so, companies like Space-X, one that has secret Gov't contracts, are simply not having video conferences. That is what the article I read stated.

 

Zoom is working to plug some of the "holes" their system has. I'm sure when some of the other apps. like Skype, Hangouts, Cisco WebX, etc. will also get hacked - we may hear about them in the news and we may not ... the biggest targets always get the most news coverage.

[Amygdala]

20 hours ago, Beggar for the Spirit said:

A brother just sent me a video clip, what was it?

It was a recording of a Zoom WT meeting where on the person's screen it showed the multiple small camera views of various brothers/sisters watching the meeting in their home, but this video focused on 1 sister who was walking around getting a bottle of wine and then pouring some wine and drinking it during the meeting. I think this Zoom video may have been manipulated somehow. Or maybe somebody uninvited "crashed the party" by sneaking onto that congregation's Zoom meeting and did this purposefully and recorded the video with the purpose of sending this video out on social media to mock us. Then when some brothers/sisters see it and are shocked by believing that this really happened, a "sister" drinking wine right on video during the meeting, they then send it to their friends? 

But when I mentioned these possibilities to the brother who sent it to me, he believes it to be real and that it shows how some are just too relaxed at the meeting.  Hopefully this video does not keep being spread. 

I got that video, and didn't respond to it. I found it more of a strange video than funny video to send.