As part of its 90-day plan to improve the security and privacy capabilities of its platform, Zoom announced a series of new security enhancements, as well as the general availability of Zoom 5.0. Most important of this is the addition of support for GCM AES 256-bit encryption which will provide greater protection for data compliance and resistance against Zoom bombing and other forms of forgery. Zoom CEO Oded Gal provided further details on how the company is working to better secure its platform in a press release, saying: “We take a holistic view of user privacy and the security of our platform. From our network to our feature set to our user experience, everything is subject to rigorous scrutiny. On the back, GCM AES 256-bit encryption will raise the bar for protecting our users' data in transit. On the front end, I'm very excited about the Security icon in the meeting menu bar. It takes our existing and new security features and puts them first for our meeting hosts. With millions of new users, this will grant them instant access to important security controls during their meetings. "
Security enhancements
Zoom has also made it easier for users to access its security features that were previously distributed in their meeting menus. Everyone is now grouped together and can be found by clicking the Security icon on the meeting menu bar in the host interface. Hosts now have more control over meetings and can also tell users to come by using the Security icon. They can even turn off the ability for participants to change their name and for education customers, default screen sharing is now reserved for the host only. Zoom's existing virtual waiting room feature is now enabled by default for all Education, Basic, and Single-Pro accounts. Hosts can also activate the waiting room while their meeting is already in progress to allow participants to take breaks. Meeting passwords have also been enabled by default for most customers, while for managed accounts, account administrators can now set password complexity for added security. Access to cloud recordings will now also require a complex password, although meeting hosts can access it without having one. Zoom's recent surge in popularity has exposed some of the platform's privacy and security concerns, but CEO Eric S. Yuan and the rest of the company have certainly taken steps to correct them.