Zoom App Unsafe for Video Conferencing, Government Officials Not to Use, Says MHA Advisory Amid COVID-19 Lockdown
Private individuals, who still want to use the application for connecting digitally amid the lockdown, must adhere to the set of guidelines issued by the government between Feb 6 and Mar 3, the advisory read. The recommendations include setting up of username and password to participants in the conference call, and preventing unauthorised entry into the conference room.
New Delhi, April 16: The Indian government released an advisory on Thursday stating that the Zoom app - used by individuals and organisations to virtually connect amid the COVID-19 lockdown - is unsafe. The advisory, which was issued today, is based on the recommendation made by the National Cyber Coordination Centre to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on April 12. Zoom Hackers Dump Over 5 Lakh Zoom Account Credentials For Free on The Dark Web.
The top cyber body states that the Zoom platform is unsafe and can be used by malicious elements to intrude into the users' system and gain unwarranted access to private data. The Cyber Coordination Centre said that government officials and offices are completely barred from using Zoom.
Private individuals, who still want to use the application for connecting digitally amid the lockdown, must adhere to the set of guidelines issued by the government between February 6 and March 30, 2020, the advisory read. The recommendations include setting up of username and password to participants in the conference call, and preventing unauthorised entry into the conference room.
MHA Advisory on Zoom App
The advisory was issued shortly after India's top Opposition leader and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi addressed a live video conference using the Zoom app. The application's popularity has meteorically rose across the world since March, after several governments imposed a shutdown to contain the transmission of coronavirus.
The video-conference application was developed in 2011 by a Chinese engineer Eric Yuan -- a former Cisco Webex engineer and executive. The software was launched in 2013. The software surged a valuation amount of $1 billion by 2017. The company is headquartered in Silicon Valley, California -- the hub of most tech giants in the world.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 16, 2020 03:48 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).