Microsoft and Cisco throw elbows at Zoom as the wildly popular video app struggles with security flaws
- In the past few weeks, wildly popular video service Zoom has dealt with snowballing security issues, prompting its rivals to trumpet their own superiority.
- Microsoft published a blog post on Monday about how its video chat app, Teams, can better prevent bullying and bad actors, such as "Zoombombers" who have infiltrated meetings.
- Cisco has also taken a shot at Zoom's recent security woes, as has Wickr, maker of another web conference app.
- The damage from Zoom rapid adoption followed by cascading problems may have damaged its brand enough for customers to look elsewhere, one security expert said.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Microsoft jumped into the brawl about web conference security on Monday, joining other competitors taking shots at Zoom for the cascade of security issues that have followed its viral popularity.
In recent weeks, critics have pummeled relative newcomer Zoom for security flaws that allowed "Zoombombers" to intrude on meetings and harangue users, sent users' data to Facebook, and leaked thousands of users' email addresses to strangers, among other issues.
Without explicitly mentioning Zoom, Microsoft hinted at its rival's issues and touted its own superiority.
"Now more than ever, people need to know that their virtual conversations are private and secure," Jared Spataro, corporate vice president for Microsoft 365, wrote in a blog post. "At Microsoft, privacy and security are never an afterthought."
The line seemed to be a jab at CEO Eric Yuan's recent response to Zoom's problems, where he acknowledged that the company "moved to fast" and made "missteps."
Microsoft also addressed how it prevents a tactic that's become known as "Zoombombing," where trolls scan the internet for links to video conferences with the goal of harassing meeting participants.
"You decide who from outside your organization can join your meetings directly, and who should wait in the lobby for someone to let them in. You can also remove participants during a meeting," Spataro wrote. "And advanced artificial intelligence monitors chats to help prevent negative behaviors like bullying and harassment."
While Microsoft laid out its response to the concept of Zoombombing, its situation isn't exactly analogous to Zoom's, since the latter became popular by being free to use for everyone, though it offers a paid service, while people using Teams are primarily paid, corporate users.
Microsoft is not alone in throwing elbows at Zoom. Cisco execs also slammed the newly popular rival for its security lapses in an interview with Business Insider last week.
"Our customers are looking at 'Where is my data going and what are you doing with it? How secure is the interaction?'" said Abhay Kulkarni, Cisco's general manager of WebEx Meetings. Cisco bought WebEx in 2007, but the company has been around since 1995 - an ancient era for web conferencing. (Zoom's CEO Yuan was one of WebEx's early engineers.)
Kulkarni says WebEx meetings require a password, can be locked, and are harder for anyone but the host to share online, which ensures that only the intended audience can join.
Cisco Chief Technical Officer Jeff Seifert joined the pile-on: "Transparency is really important," he said. "That is a core component of what security is all about."
The CEO of a high-security web conferencing app, Wickr, countered that while the big boys like Microsoft and Cisco may be better at addressing security issues quickly, they are not that much better than Zoom overall.
"They're all pretty similar," said Joel Wallenstrom, CEO of Wickr, which provides end-to-end encryption, unlike other platforms. "With a browser-based model, the culture of video conferencing is, 'Since it can't be secure, why worry about security?'"
Zoom's rivals may be picking the right time to trumpet their products, as another security expert says that Zoom's lapses may ultimately be pushing customers away.
"The exposure of these multiple vulnerabilities has definitely undermined Zoom's position as the go-to video chat software at the moment: A lot of damage has been done," said Ted Kim, the CEO of Private Internet Access, a Colorado cybersecurity company that makes virtual private network (VPN) products. "It appears that many companies may already be looking for an alternative."
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