While I’ve confined most of this blog to woodworking topics of some sort, my “day job” was nearly 50 years in the technology business, most recently software engineering and developing accessibility techniques for making the Internet an easier place for people with disabilities.
So, I’ll break away from Splinterville for a few moments to talk tech.
Main point: Don’t use Zoom. What!?! Doesn’t everybody use zoom? Unfortunately, too many.
I’ll be blunt. While Zoom is bright and shiny and easier to use than some other products, it is a Chinese product with close ties to the Chinese Communist Party. The CCP has absolutely ZERO respect for personal freedom, independence or personal privacy. Zoom is a security sieve, so full of holes that any of your personal information can be easily mined by the Chinese Communist Party and other malcontents.
Do you want your conversations with your doctor, your financial advisors, your insurers etc., known by others? Think very seriously about what information you exchange in Zoom meetings, or what information your reveal in your Zoom profile, and whether you want any of it known beyond the people you trust in those meetings. Zoom has a long history of security weaknesses; everything from the absence of encryption in some “free” meetings, to very weak encryption when used, to Chinese servers controlling those weak encryption keys, to weaknesses that lets others into your meetings, that lets others take over your webcams, to a backdoor that lets the CCP listen in anytime they please, and similar weaknesses that cybercriminals are now exploiting to steal your digital identity.
Amazingly, one of my healthcare providers chose Zoom for “tele-medicine” meetings. Their reason was because Skype wasn’t HIPAA compliant and Zoom was. I can’t imagine how Zoom is HIPAA compliant while being riddled with security and privacy holes. DOH!
Personally, I blame Microsoft. They’ve been very complacent in not upgrading SKYPE to meet modern commerce demands. Think: old cow whose milk is still bringin’ cash.
A collection of articles about Zoom’s security flaws:
- Zoom security issues: Here’s everything that’s gone wrong (so far)
- A Zoom Flaw Gives Hackers Easy Access to Your Webcam
- ZOOM ENCRYPTION CONTAINS A CHINESE BACKDOOR AND….
- Maybe We Shouldn’t Use Zoom After All
- Is Zoom a HIPAA Compliant Video and Web Conferencing Platform?
- Zoom Security Concerns Mount as New Flaws Identified