Zoom has agreed to improve its security following a settlement with the FTC. As reported by Engadget, this agreement sees the video calling company avoid a fine for the time being.
As surely everyone knows by now, Zoom burst onto the scene during the pandemic and lockdown back in March. With everyone plunged inside the video calling platform saw its stock rise exponentially as everyone needed a method of staying in contact.
However, the platform was still in its relative infancy at the time leading to a number of security issues. As a result, Zoom has already promised to bring end-to-end encryption to all users globally to boost security.
The company also added a number of new features over recent months. These included the ability to ‘Livestream to YouTube’ for Android users.
Now it looks like Zoom will have to do more work to improve its security or else risk incurring the wrath of the FTC once again. The pair have reached a settlement but only conditionally on Zoom’s promise to bolster its security.
Zoom reaches FTC settlement to avoid a fine
For a while now Zoom has promised to fix security and privacy issues. Now it has a fair bit more incentive to actually do so thanks to the FTC.
As part of the agreement between Zoom and the FTC, the video meeting company must now establish an information security program that will see it share security audits with the FTC.
Zoom has also agreed to notify the FTC if it goes through a data breach. Additionally, security features also come as part of the promise from Zoom.
The main issue was misleading rhetoric from Zoom over end-to-end encryption. The FTC claims the company gave users a false sense of security over the feature.
The FTC also found issues with ZoomOpener. This is a software used by the company since July 2018 in an update pushed to Mac users. ZoomOpener installed a persistent web server on your Mac that could reinstall Zoom on your computer without your permission.
Andrew Smith, the director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection gave a statement on Zoom’s practices. He said, “Zoom’s security practices didn’t line up with its promises, and this action will help to make sure that Zoom meetings and data about Zoom users are protected”.
This settlement is a positive though for Zoom. Although they have to take additional work to improve security they will have avoided a fine. However, if there are future infringements then the company will face fines of up to $43,280 for each future offence.