Zoom has had it rough for the past few days, and of course, the reasons are all valid for the negative flack. That's why Zoom has brought on former Security Head of Facebook to try and fix their privacy problems.
Read More : US and UK Cybersecurity Agencies Warn Public About Hacking Threats From Criminals Amidst COVID-19 Fears
A Brief Context As To Why Zoom Needs Help
Zoom has been on the rise lately due to the surge of online courses and conferences being used right now since the pandemic has forced people to stay at home, albeit for work or schooling.
Zoom has since then been banned by Microsoft's platforms and will not likely resume its services until everything in the app is fixed and is ready for usage again for the masses. As cybersecurity for companies, businesses, and even individuals are at an all-time low due to transferring their work from home, they may be a target to cybercriminals.
We previously covered articles about this, and it's in your best interest to review them if you are also wary of the threat that is very real.
Zoom's Problem Fixer
Alex Stamos was a former head of Facebook of security until the year 2018. In his blog post, he wrote that he was approached by the founder and CEO of Zoom, Eric Yuan, to join his team as an outside consultant. This happened after Stamos posted a thread on Twitter about how the company could address the flaws within their security.
Stamos reportedly took the job because he recognized the importance of apps like Zoom to the online community as a whole, now more than ever. The app itself, however, has been brought on complaints after complaints of "zoom bombing" or conferences being hacked that resulted in the abuse of the users of Zoom.
Zoom recently was ranked the top pick among all of Apple's App Store, way ahead of Google, What's App, and Tiktok, with over millions upon millions of people relying on their business. Of course, online classes to stay afloat due to the world-wide quarantine happening right now.
Stamos being invited to join Zoom's group is part of the companies 90-day plan to enhance its security, which has seen the company's press pause on developing new features so they could focus resources on safety first and their bug bounty program. The bug bounty program is their way of letting hackers for a change use their skills for good and find and report bugs that can be exploited by the more mischievous counterparts. Yuan also said in a statement that Zoom would also be releasing transparency reports.
Zoom has already created a new privacy and security board, gathering people from security heads from forms like VMware, Netflix, Uber, and even Electronic Arts apart from Stamos to advise Yuan on future endeavors.
Stamos had this to say from his recent employment, "I'm certain that the real challenge, one faced by every company trying to provide for the diverse needs of millions seeking low-friction collaboration, is how to empower one's customers without empowering those who wish to abuse them," which he added, "This is possibly the most impactful challenge faced by the tech industry in the age of [coronavirus], and together we can make something positive out of these difficult times and ensure that communications are safer and more secure for all."
