FTC SAYS ZOOM MISLED USERS ON ITS SECURITY FOR MEETINGS

Federal regulators are requiring Zoom to strengthen its security in a proposed settlement of allegations that the video conferencing service misled users about its level of security for meetings.

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The settlement, approved by the Federal Trade Commission in a 3-2 vote, was announced this week. A complaint filed by the agency accused Zoom of deceiving users over security since at least 2016. It said the company held on to cryptographic keys that allowed it to access content from its customers’ meetings, and secured meetings with a lower level of privacy encryption than it promised customers.

Zoom has become a staple during the coronavirus pandemic because it allows people to meet online rather than in person. The company claims some 300 million users, boosted by the tens of millions of workers around the world who were suddenly ordered to work from home in the spring as the virus outbreak shut down wide swaths of the economy.