Zoom Cuts Deal with New York AG to Close Inquiry into Security Lapses

Video-conferencing company Zoom has reportedly struck a deal with New York Attorney General Letitia James this week closing an inquiry into the app’s security problems.

CNBC reports that video-conferencing app Zoom has reached an agreement with New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office this week which will close the state’s inquiry into the app’s security practices without an admission of wrongdoing from Zoom.

The agreement follows the New York City Department of Education’s decision to lift its ban on Zoom after working with the firm to ensure that proper safety and security features are in place. The two announcements combined seem to be the result of Zoom’s 90-day plan announced on April 1 to fix its various security issues is on track and could help to regain consumer confidence after a number of security issues over the past few months.

Breitbart News reported last month that file-hosting service Dropbox actually became so worried about Zoom’s security issues that it hired hackers to find vulnerabilities in the app and alerted Zoom to fix them.

Breitbart News recently reported that the CEO of the video conferencing company apologized in a blog post over the various security issues that its 300 million daily users are facing on the platform. CEO Eric Yuan announced a number of measures that the company is taking to make the app more secure as millions of Americans use the app to work and study from home. Breitbart News covered the criticism of the company over its lack of action on “Zoom bombing” which is the process of hijacking zoom meetings to disrupt business and schoolwork.

The Connecticut Attorney General William Tong was victim to Zoom bombing and has opened his own probe into Zoom which is still ongoing. Zoom is also facing an investor lawsuit claiming that the company failed to disclose privacy and security issues with shareholders.

The agreement reached between the attorney general and Zoom includes protections for students. All kindergarten through 12th-grade education accounts will have to allow hosts to control access to conferences with a password or digital waiting room, the also must be capable of controlling access to private messages, email domains, and whether participants can share screens.

A Zoom spokesperson said in a statement:

We are pleased to have reached a resolution with the New York Attorney General, which recognizes the substantial work that Zoom has completed as part of our 90-day security and privacy plan, including making a number of our pre-existing security features on by default and also introducing new security enhancements.

We are grateful for the New York Attorney General’s engagement on these important issues and are glad to have reached this resolution so quickly.

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