Current Events > Zoom hires former Facebook security chief to beef up privacy

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Zoom Video Communications Inc (ZM.O) has tapped former Facebook security chief Alex Stamos as an adviser and set up an advisory board to improve the privacy and security of its rapidly growing video-conferencing app amid a global backlash.

After the coronavirus-related lockdowns forced people to work from home, millions of people flocked to Zooms platform, attracted by its ease of use. Thousands of schools also used its free offering to start online classes.

That in turn attracted scrutiny of its platform and Zoom faced widespread criticism from users worried about the lack of end-to-end encryption of meeting sessions, routing of traffic through China and zoombombing, where uninvited guests crashed meetings.

In a series of tweets in late March, Stamos called on Zoom to be more transparent and roll out a 30-day security plan.

Following those tweets, Zoom Chief Executive Officer Eric Yuan called up Stamos, asking him to help the company build up its security, privacy and safety capabilities as an outside consultant.

Zoom has some important work to do in core application security, cryptographic design and infrastructure security, and Im looking forward to working with Zooms engineering teams on those projects, Stamos, now an adjunct professor at Stanford University, wrote in a blog post on Wednesday.

Taiwan and Germany have put restrictions on its use, while Elon Musks SpaceX has banned the app over security concerns. It has also been slapped with a class-action lawsuit.

It would be in Zooms best interests to conduct a full scale investigation into the security lapses and provide a report of whether or not the lapses led to an actual compromise, said Theresa Payton, a former White House Chief Information Officer and currently CEO of Fortalice Solutions.

To address the concerns, Zoom has formed a CISO Council, which includes chief information security officers of HSBC (HSBA.L), NTT Data (9613.T), Procore PCOR.N and Ellie Mae, to discuss about privacy, security and technology issues.

It has also set up a board to advise CEO Yuan on privacy issues. The initial members include executives from VMware (VMW.N), Netflix (NFLX.O), Uber (UBER.N) and Electronic Arts (EA.O).

Zoom will also host a weekly webinar, starting from Wednesday at 10 a.m. PT, to provide privacy and security updates.

Zoom, which competes with Microsofts (MSFT.O) Teams and Ciscos (CSCO.O) Webex, has seen daily users jump to 200 million from 10 million and the stock surged to a record high in March.

The recent concerns, however, have shaved 31% from the stocks March high of $164.94 through Tuesdays close. It was up 8% in early trading on Wednesday on the Nasdaq.

When we use the phrase End to End in our other literature, it is in reference to the connection being encrypted from Zoom end point to Zoom end point, the Zoom spokesperson wrote, apparently referring to Zoom servers as end points even though they sit between Zoom clients.