US Senate Tells Members To Stop Using Zoom (businessinsider.com) 17
According to the Financial Times, U.S. senators have been advised not to use videoconferencing platform Zoom over security concerns. From a report: According to three people briefed on the matter, the Senate sergeant-at-arms -- whose job it is to run law enforcement and security on the Capitol -- told senators to find alternative methods for remote working, although he did not implement an outright ban. With the coronavirus outbreak forcing millions to work from home, Zoom has seen a 1,900% increase in use between December and March to 200 million daily users. This has been accompanied by a string of bad press about its security and privacy practices, to the point where CEO Eric Yuan was forced to publicly apologize last week.
While the Senate has told its members to stay away from Zoom, the Pentagon told the FT that it would continue to allow its staff to use the platform. A memo sent to top cybersecurity officials from the Department of Homeland Security said that the company was being responsive when questioned about concerns over the security of its software, Reuters reported. The slew of privacy issues prompted Taiwan's government agencies to stop using the service. Google also banned Zoom from its employees' devices.
While the Senate has told its members to stay away from Zoom, the Pentagon told the FT that it would continue to allow its staff to use the platform. A memo sent to top cybersecurity officials from the Department of Homeland Security said that the company was being responsive when questioned about concerns over the security of its software, Reuters reported. The slew of privacy issues prompted Taiwan's government agencies to stop using the service. Google also banned Zoom from its employees' devices.
EARN IT anyone? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Just use whatever video conferencing to draft up stuff, then actually use STRONG CRYPTOGRAPHY to sign the documents and say "yes this is indeed what we want". You know, PGP/GPG, all that good stuff that idiot politicians probably have no idea about? (But they could easily ask the US military who HAS actually been using strong cryptography for years. Everyone in the military has a car
Move Fast and Roll Your Own Crypto (Score:3)
"A Quick Look at the Confidentiality of Zoom Meetings" - Citizen Lab - https://citizenlab.ca/2020/04/... [citizenlab.ca]
Glad the U.S. Senate caught on.
Re: (Score:3)
Important to note the qualification to the advice in that article:
The other web-conference platforms (WebEx, Skype, Hangouts, etc.) can all be used in such a way that they'd be targets for "Zoom bombing".
As far as I know, the other major web-conference platforms don't necessarily offer "end-t
Re: (Score:1)
> necessarily offer "end-to-end encryption" either.
Zoom has a datacenter in mainland China.
This is fine, if you're using it to chat about the weather, your kids' online school situation, how cute your dog is, and whether this thrice-becursed virus panic will ever end so we can leave the house again. Which is how most folks are using it. No problem there.
You would not want to use Zoom to discuss things that you wouldn't want the Chines
Voice (Score:2, Insightful)
The really silly thing about all of this is that it is rare that a "video conference" is really even needed for most "meetings."
At least for me, watching a talking head on a screen rarely does anything to enhance the value of the communication over just listening to a phone conference (audio only). But it does make things a hell of a lot more complicated.
Even worse when it is used as a substitute for lectures or just dissemination of information. Who cares if it is "live"? Just record the video it and pu
Re:Voice (Score:4, Insightful)
At least for me, watching a talking head on a screen rarely does anything to enhance the value of the communication over just listening to a phone conference (audio only). But it does make things a hell of a lot more complicated.
Sure, I can see where emotional connections between family members can benefit from occasionally "seeing" each other talk, live. But for work? No thanks.
If your work involves people (managing, leading, cajoling, convincing, kissing ass, manipulating, extorting, selling, gaslighting, vetting, inspiring) you can find added value in seeing how the people you are speaking to are reacting to you.
Re:Voice (Score:4, Interesting)
The really silly thing about all of this is that it is rare that a "video conference" is really even needed for most "meetings." At least for me, watching a talking head on a screen rarely does anything to enhance the value of the communication over just listening to a phone conference (audio only).
I can see what you're saying for some of the more technical jobs out there.
But in my line of work - software development - once you get above a certain level a few years into your career then everything's about teams, cross-team collaboration, communication, building relationships, coordinating work with peers. At all the places I've worked, strengthening communication and bonds by having video calls is vital.
Re: (Score:3)
The really silly thing about all of this is that it is rare that a "video conference" is really even needed for most "meetings."
Except for the narcissist boss that love to have people see his face displayed on screen prominently. in addition to hearing his voice.
Re: (Score:2)
Not only are people more joining teleconferences that had never done so before, there are more *creating* teleconferences that had never done so before. While joining a phone conference may seem easy, creating one is sufficiently complicated that in a lot of situations the easiest method is to use one of these video conferences systems and just never turn the video on.
what are the senators trying to hide? (Score:3, Insightful)
Senate Sergeant at Arms (Score:4, Informative)
the Senate sergeant-at-arms -- whose job it is to run law enforcement and security on the Capitol
It would make sense in this context to explain that it is the Senate's IT department. They are senate.gov, among many other things.
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Any video conference is less than ideal (Score:2)
As it is my son's friends zoom bomb each others' classes regularly.
Now for the House (Score:2)
I like meet.jit.si (Score:1)
I like http://meet.jit.si/ [meet.jit.si] I like that I don't need an account it is even less secure and puts a lot of load on the client, but that is that much less info that needs to go back to the server.