The Union Home Ministry on Thursday issued an advisory saying videoconferencing app Zoom “is a not a safe platform”. The advisory comes after the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) cautioned about cyber vulnerability in using the app, whose popularity has soured in India during coronavirus lockdown. The home ministry’s statement referred to the CERT-IN advisories dated February 6 and March 30.
Zoom became a popular application for executives conducting meetings while working from home during the countrywide lockdown announced by the central government to contain coronavirus pandemic in the country.
“The document makes reference to earlier advisories of the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert-In) and states that Zoom is not a safe platform. The guidelines have been issued to safeguard private individuals who would still like to use the platform for private purposes,” the ministry said.
It said the advisory has been issued to prevent any unauthorized entry into a Zoom conference room and to prevent unauthorized participants to carry out malicious attacks on the terminals of other users in the conference.