Zoom Updates User Privacy and Security

April 27, 2020—Zoom is launching updates this week to update its security and privacy for consumers, reported Consumer Reports. There have been about 300 million Zoom users this month.

For one example, the company disabled a controversial “attention tracking” feature that functioned almost like a management surveillance tool by alerting hosts when a participant had clicked away from the Zoom window, even if it was to follow a meeting-related document.

The company is enabling passwords for most meetings to help prevent Zoombombing, a recent phenomenon in which intruders gain unauthorized access to a meeting and disrupt it, according to the report.

Zoom has also created a “security icon,” which consolidates a number of important controls that allow a host to quickly and easily lock a meeting, restrict chat or screensharing, and, if necessary, remove a participant.