‘Zoom is a not a safe platform’ says Govt, issues guidelines

New Delhi: If you and your company is reliably using Zoom app to work from home during the lockdown times then now is the time to raise a security alarm. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has rung the bell. The government has said, "Zoom is a not a safe platform". The Cyber Coordination Centre (CyCord), under the MHA, has issued an advisory on the secure use of ZOOM Meeting Platform by private individuals. This advisory states that the platform is not for use by Government officers/officials for official purposes.

The document makes reference to earlier advisories of the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team(Cert-In) and states that Zoom is not a safe platform. The guidelines have been issued to safeguard private individuals who would still like to use the platform for private purposes.

The broad objective of this advisory is to prevent any unauthorized entry into a Zoom Conference Room and prevent the unauthorized participant to carry out malicious attacks on the terminals of other users in the conference. The broad objective of the security guidelines document issued by the MHA is to enable/disable certain settings is to:

1. prevent unauthorised entry in the conference room
2. prevent an authorised participant to carry out malicious on the terminals of other in the conference
3. Avoid DOS attack by restricting users through passwords and access grant

The story will be updated after Zoom reacts to the guidelines issued by the Government. There is no response so far from the company in this regard. However, the details of protective measures to be taken by individuals may be accessed in the document that can be downloaded from HERE.