Much has been said that Zoom, despite its popularity, has many problems, most of which are related to security. To say that the company heard this and decided to fix everything is not entirely correct. Of course, there are no fools working there and they perfectly understand what needs to be done to develop the product. As a result, they did it, and now Zoom has become much safer in several ways at once. All that remains is to work on stability and do something about these awful backgrounds that sometimes cause a burning sensation in the cerebral cortex. So what did the company that almost benefited from the coronavirus the most, and what else does it need to do?
It will now become more secure.
The importance of videoconferencing encryption
When the pandemic began, almost all countries of the world locked people at home, and there was an explosive growth in the popularity of video communication services. Everyone wanted not only to talk to family and friends on the phone, but to hold something more like a real meeting. Services like Zoom, Skype, FaceTime and others came in handy in this. The luckiest of all was Zoom, which increased its audience and the market value of the company several times.
We have already written about the problems plaguing the service at the time of rapid growth, but now it is too late to remember this, since the company has already taken certain steps. This will greatly help her in her fight against Google Meet, which appeared just recently and will now be built into Gmail, that is, it will potentially settle on two billion devices at once.
Not only Zoom should be secure, but other services as well.
If for ordinary users this is not so important and it does not matter if someone saw you playing one of the games that we recommended for entertainment via video calling, then for serious conversations it is very important. Many companies hold meetings to discuss the details that could influence the fate of multi-million dollar deals. There are already many who want to “warm their ears.”
What has changed in Zoom recently
If you've followed Zoom's story, you couldn't help but notice that it has had its ups and downs. After the initial hype with the video platform, more and more security holes were revealed. The company announced improvements to security and privacy. Now it is the turn of end-to-end encryption and some users will be especially happy about it.
It so happened in our life that in order to get more, you have to pay more. That is, you can get, for example, more camera modules by buying a more expensive smartphone, apps without ads, paying for a subscription, or even a third of a double cheeseburger cutlet. It is enough just to pay a little more. In the case of the new Zoom encryption, all security features will be available to all users.
If you want to use Zoom now, you have the choice between a free account or a subscription. The paid version includes basic functions and additional services such as meetings longer than 40 minutes. If you need it, you just have to pay. The amount may seem large to someone, but if the subscription is taken for a business, then the cost will not be shocking.
Zoom is used by tens of millions in the world.
Until now, it has not been possible – for free users or paid customers – to use end-to-end encryption. This is a real security hole, considering that not only the participants in the video chat, but everyone else can access the call data without significant difficulty. In early June, it was confirmed that there would still be encryption for Zoom, but only for paid users.
Of course, we do not want to provide such access [end-to-end encryption] to regular users. Because we also want to work with the FBI and local law enforcement in case some people use Zoom for bad purposes, Eric Yuan, CEO of Zoom, told TheNextWeb.
Now the company has slightly changed its position and wrote in Twitter that end-to-end encryption should be available to every user. This should not depend on whether he uses the video platform for free or has a paid subscription. This will not only attract users to this service, but will also be able to answer the question of how encryption will be provided if a paid and a free user communicate.
Recording in Twitter.
However, one difference still exists. Encryption is immediately available to customers with a subscription without having to do anything for it. For those who use the service for free, there is one small rule. Before they can use encryption, they will need to pass identity verification. Don't be scared – you only need to do this once. Verification by phone number is proposed as one of the options for such verification. That is, everything is as usual. We have seen this more than once on many other services. Perhaps this method will be canceled or some others will be offered, but so far there is no information about this. Perhaps if we all write about it in our Telegram chat, the company will work faster.
End-to-end encryption is slated to enter beta phase in July. When users will be able to use this encryption for daily communication has not yet been reported.