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- Zoom security issues: What's gone wrong and what's been fixed | Tom's Guide
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PolitiFact | Is China spying on you through Zoom? Charlie Kirk overstates report's findings.
The researcher got past Zoom's meeting-scan blocker by running queries through Tor, which randomized his IP address. It's a variation on "war driving" by randomly dialing telephone numbers to find open modems in the dial-up days. The researcher told Krebs that he could find about open Zoom meetings every hour with the tool, and that "having a password enabled on the [Zoom] meeting is the only thing that defeats it.
Two Twitter opens in new tab users opens in new tab pointed out that if you're in a Zoom meeting and use a private window in the meeting's chat app to communicate privately with another person in the meeting, that conversation will be visible in the end-of-meeting transcript the host receives.
A Kurdish security researcher opens in new tab said Zoom paid him a bug bounty -- a reward for finding a serious flaw -- for finding how to hijack a Zoom account if the account holder's email address was known or guessed. The researcher, who calls himself "s3c" but whose real name may be Yusuf Abdulla, said if he tried to log into Zoom with a Facebook account, Zoom would ask for the email address associated with that Facebook account.
Then Zoom would open a new webpage notifying him that a confirmation email message had been sent to that email address. The URL of the notification webpage would have a unique identification tag in the address bar. As an example that's much shorter than the real thing, let's say it's "zoom. When s3c received and opened the confirmation email message sent by Zoom, he clicked on the confirmation button in the body of the message.
This took him to yet another webpage that confirmed his email address was now associated with a new account. So far, so good. But then s3c noticed that the unique identification tag in the Zoom confirmation webpage's URL was identical to the first ID tag.
Let's use the example "zoom. The matching ID tags, one used before confirmation and the other after confirmation, meant that s3c could have avoided receiving the confirmation email, and clicking on the confirmation button, altogether. In fact, he could have entered ANY email address -- yours, mine or billgates gmail.
Then he could have copied the ID tag from the resulting Zoom notification page and pasted the ID tag into an already existing Zoom account-confirmation page. And because Zoom lets anyone using a company email address view all other users signed up with the same email domain, e. Zoom is fortunate that s3c is one of the good guys and didn't disclose this flaw publicly before Zoom could fix it. But it's such a simple flaw that it's hard to imagine no one else noticed it before.
Zoom has released updates for its Windows , macOS and Linux desktop client software so that meeting IDs will not display onscreen during meetings. Yuan opens in new tab said that Zoom had discovered "a potential security vulnerability with file sharing, so we disabled that feature.
Until this week, participants in a Zoom meeting could share files with each other using the meeting's chat function. Those AES encryption keys are issued to Zoom clients by Zoom servers, which is all well and good, except that the Citizen Lab opens in new tab found several Zoom servers in China issuing keys to Zoom users even when all participants in a meeting were in North America.
Since Zoom servers can decrypt Zoom meetings, and Chinese authorities can compel operators of Chinese servers to hand over data, the implication is that the Chinese government might be able to see your Zoom meetings. That's got to be bad news for the British government, which has held at least one Cabinet meeting over Zoom.
Yuan opens in new tab responded to the Citizen Lab report by saying that "it is possible certain meetings were allowed to connect to systems in China, where they should not have been able to connect.
We have since corrected this. Zoom advises meeting hosts to set up "waiting rooms" to avoid "Zoom bombing. The Citizen Lab said it found a serious security issue with Zoom waiting rooms opens in new tab , and advised hosts and participants to not use them for now.
The Citizen Lab is not disclosing the details yet, but has told Zoom of the flaw. In a follow-up to their initial report opens in new tab. Zoom meetings have side chats in which participants can sent text-based messages and post web links. That left Zoom chats vulnerable to attack. If a malicious Zoom bomber slipped a UNC path to a remote server that he controlled into a Zoom meeting chat, an unwitting participant could click on it.
The participant's Windows computer would then try to reach out to the hacker's remote server specified in the path and automatically try to log into it using the user's Windows username and password.
The hacker could capture the password "hash" and decrypt it, giving him access to the Zoom user's Windows account. Mohamed A. Baset opens in new tab of security firm Seekurity said on Twitter that the same filepath flaw also would let a hacker insert a UNC path to a remote executable file into a Zoom meeting chatroom.
If a Zoom user running Windows clicked on it, a video posted by Baset showed, the user's computer would try to load and run the software. The victim would be prompted to authorize the software to run, which will stop some hacking attempts but not all. After Vice News exposed the practice, Zoom said it hadn't been aware of the profile-sharing and updated the iOS apps to fix this.
We learned last summer that Zoom used hacker-like methods to bypass normal macOS security precautions. We thought that problem had been fixed then, along with the security flaw it created. But a series of tweets March 30 from security researcher Felix Seele, who noticed that Zoom installed itself on his Mac without the usual user authorizations, revealed that there was still an issue. The same tricks that are being used by macOS malware. Yuan opens in new tab tweeted a friendly response.
That was a swift and comprehensive reaction. Zoom just released an update for the macOS installer which completely removes the questionable "preinstall"-technique and the faked password prompt. I must say that I am impressed. Other people could use Zoom's dodgy Mac installation methods, renowned Mac hacker Patrick Wardle opens in new tab said in a blog post March Wardle demonstrated how a local attacker -- such as a malicious human or already-installed malware -- could use Zoom's formerly magical powers of unauthorized installation to "escalate privileges" and gain total control over the machine without knowing the administrator password.
Wardle also showed that a malicious script installed into the Zoom Mac client could give any piece of malware Zoom's webcam and microphone privileges, which do not prompt the user for authorization and could turn any Mac with Zoom installed into a potential spying device. Yuan opens in new tab acknowledged Zoom's growing pains and pledged that regular development of the Zoom platform would be put on hold while the company worked to fix security and privacy issues.
Dedicated journalists and security researchers have also helped to identify pre-existing ones. To deal with these issues, Yuan wrote, Zoom would be "enacting a feature freeze, effectively immediately, and shifting all our engineering resources to focus on our biggest trust, safety, and privacy issues.
Among other things, Zoom would also be "conducting a comprehensive review with third-party experts and representative users to understand and ensure the security of all of our new consumer use cases. Zoom now requires passwords by default for most Zoom meetings, although meetings hosts can turn that feature off.
Passwords are the easiest way to stop Zoom bombing. And on April 8, former Facebook and Yahoo chief security officer Alex Stamos opens in new tab said he would be working with Zoom to improve its security and privacy. Stamos is now an adjunct professor at Stanford and is highly regarded within the information-security community. Zoom claims its meetings use "end-to-end encryption" if every participant calls in from a computer or a Zoom mobile app instead of over the phone.
But under pressure from The Intercept opens in new tab , a Zoom representative admitted that Zoom's definitions of "end-to-end" and "endpoint" are not the same as everyone else's.
Every other company considers an endpoint to be a user device -- a desktop, laptop, smartphone or tablet -- but not a server. And every other company takes "end-to-end encryption" to mean that servers that relay messages from one endpoint to another can't decrypt the messages. When you send an Apple Message from your iPhone to another iPhone user, Apple's servers help the message get from one place to another, but they can't read the content.
Not so with Zoom. It can see whatever is going on in its meetings, and sometimes it may have to in order to make sure everything works properly. Just don't believe the implication that it can't. UPDATE: In a blog post April 1, Zoom Chief Product Officer Oded Gal opens in new tab wrote that "we want to start by apologizing for the confusion we have caused by incorrectly suggesting that Zoom meetings were capable of using end-to-end encryption.
Gal assured users that all data sent and received by Zoom client applications but not regular phone lines, business conferencing systems or, presumably, browser interfaces is indeed encrypted and that Zoom servers or staffers "do not decrypt it at any point before it reaches the receiving clients. However, Gal added, "Zoom currently maintains the key management system for these systems in the cloud" but has "implemented robust and validated internal controls to prevent unauthorized access to any content that users share during meetings.
The implication is that Zoom doesn't decrypt user transmissions by choice. But because it holds the encryption keys, Zoom could if it had to, such as if it were presented with a warrant or a U. National Security Letter essentially a secret warrant. For those worried about government snooping, Gal wrote that "Zoom has never built a mechanism to decrypt live meetings for lawful intercept purposes, nor do we have means to insert our employees or others into meetings without being reflected in the participant list.
He added that companies and other enterprises would soon be able to handle their own encryption process. We hope Zoom stops using the term "end-to-end encryption" incorrectly, but just keep in mind that you won't be getting the real thing with Zoom until it fully implements the technology it's buying with Keybase. Privacy researcher Patrick Jackson noticed that Zoom meeting recordings saved to the host's computer generally get a certain type of file name. So he searched unprotected cloud servers to see if anyone had uploaded Zoom recordings and found more than 15, unprotected examples, according to The Washington Post opens in new tab.
Jackson also found some recorded Zoom meetings on YouTube and Vimeo. This isn't really Zoom's fault. It's up to the host to decide whether to record a meeting, and Zoom gives paying customers the option to store recordings on Zoom's own servers. It's also up to the host to decide to change the recording's file name.
If you host a Zoom meeting and decide to record it, then make sure you change the default file name after you're done. Paul Wagenseil is a senior editor at Tom's Guide focused on security and privacy. He has also been a dishwasher, fry cook, long-haul driver, code monkey and video editor. He's been rooting around in the information-security space for more than 15 years at FoxNews.
Tom's Guide Tom's Guide. Paul Wagenseil opens in new tab. Topics Privacy. See all comments 8. Helpful article, if a bit generous in assuming Zoom's good intentions and dedication to fixing its glaring flaws. How about the hidden webserver that Zoom installed with its application that allowed remote access to the camera and did not uninstall with the rest of the app? Their explanation was that it was a feature, not a bug Truly disgraceful.
Also, I'm stuck on some language in the article: What does it mean that Hacker House is an "Anglo-American" cybersecurity training firm? Nobody at my office has been able to figure that one out. Agree with you. Also, as "globalist embracing" as all of us tend and somewhat need to be in the global technology industry, we have to be cautious when it comes to security, especially at a time that a virus - COVID more properly originally named the Wuhan Virus for it's point of origin became a pandemic and is economically damaging the global economy including our industries.
Zoom disclosed in their original IPO prospectus that most of their product development personnel are based in China. We all know that our Intellectual Property is constantly under attack and being stolen by China. Here we have a company delivering the most popular video conferencing service to U. S corporations and personal users and we are expected to trust that of their developers in China are not part of the Chinese state goverment?
Sorry folks. Be wise, be safe. Choose another provider. Yuan has a lot more than some "mea culpa" interviews to do to clean up this mess! And perhaps a higher law enforcement authority DOJ? My organization has discussed moving to Microsoft Teams. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter. Related Posts. Cryptocurrency theft of million dollars..
Editors Pick. The report also found that Zoom owns three companies in China, at which at least employees are paid to develop Zoom's software. However, this arrangement may make Zoom responsive to pressure from Chinese authorities," the report said.
Indeed, the coronavirus pandemic is a blessing in disguise for intelligence agencies in China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, and other rogue regimes, many of whom have adapted to using cyberwarfare to carry out their objectives. As people across the world are forced to stay home and work remotely, they're increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks and disinformation — two tools that are more useful than ever to foreign spies.
These methods are also cheaper to employ and require less financial investment than traditional methods of intelligence gathering, giving countries like China and Russia a leg-up as they compete against more financially stable countries like the US.
Zoom, for its part, has said it will work to enhance its security over the coming months. Yuan announced that the company will freeze its feature updates for 90 days while it addresses privacy and security issues. He said Zoom will also conduct a "comprehensive review with third-party experts" to ensure it's taking the necessary steps to protect user privacy. Read more: 20 Zoom video chat tips, tricks and hidden features. Privacy experts previously expressed concerns about Zoom in , when the video-conferencing software experienced both a webcam hacking scandal , and a bug that allowed people to potentially join video meetings they hadn't been invited to , if those meetings weren't protected with a password.
The issues were exacerbated by Zoom's widespread adoption at the start of the pandemic, but this was just the latest chapter in the software's rocky security history. It prompted Zoom CEO Eric Yuan to respond to concerns in April , freezing feature updates to address security issues over a day update rollout. Zoom saw explosive growth at the time, increasing its ranks from 2, to 6, employees from February to December By the end of Zoom's hiring boom, the software had become the first video communications client to attain Common Criteria certification, an international cybersecurity standard awarded after rigorous analysis.
Though Zoom has added these and other security features like end-to-end encryption , there are still a few things you should watch out for to keep your chats as private as possible. For paid subscribers, Zoom's cloud recording feature can either be a life-saver or a catastrophic faux pas waiting to happen.
If the feature is enabled on the account, a host can record the meeting along with its text transcription and a text file of any active chats in that meeting, and save it to the cloud where it can later be accessed by other authorized users at your company, including people who may have never attended the meeting in question.
Zoom does allow a narrowing of the audience here, however. Administrators can limit the recording's accessibility to only certain preapproved IP addresses, even if the recording has already been shared. Participants can also see when a meeting is being recorded. In the spring of , Zoom rolled out two privacy improvements aimed at making users more aware of whether a meeting is being recorded.
Foreign Intelligence Agents Are Using Zoom to Spy on Americans: TIME.
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