Zoom CEO says company ‘messed up’ on security as privacy issues mount

Zoom CEO Eric Yuan says that his company “messed up” in launching a service that has been so easily taken advantage of by trolls and attackers.

“I really messed up as CEO, and we need to win their trust back. This kind of thing shouldn’t have happened,” Yuan told the Wall Street Journal.

Zoom has experienced a significant surge in users across the world as lockdown measures are requiring people to work, study and socialize from home. The platform had a maximum of 10 million daily users in December, but the number has increased to 200 million by March.

However, as its popularity has increased, its many security and privacy issues are coming to the surface. Security experts have revealed numerous flaws with Zoom’s software that can easily be exploited.

Over the past week, ‘Zoombombing’ was trending on Twitter, as unauthorized people have been able to access Zoom meetings and share hate-speech or pornographic images.

The platform has also been called out for leaking users’ email addresses and photos and giving strangers the ability to start a video call with them. Another recent report details two bugs that hackers can use to take over a Zoom user’s Mac, and also allow them to control the webcam and microphone.

Yuan notes that although the platform is promising the possibility of end-to-end encryption, it won’t be available for several months.

Zoom has promised to address and fix several issues that have come to the surface within the next 90-days. It has already implemented meeting passwords and a ‘waiting room’ feature to increase privacy.

Source: Wall Street Journal