Zoom likely to offer stronger encryption only to paid accounts, not everyone

Popular video calling app Zoom is about to add stronger encryption to its paid customers for video calls. However, new reports suggest that the enhanced security will not come to all accounts. The video calling app has seen many cases of group-video conferences being hacked and attackers have taken the opportunity to do anything from cause harmless trouble to stream pornography.

Now a new report by Reuters says that it was not clear if some accounts including non-profit users would qualify for the more secure calls. “Zoom’s approach to end-to-end encryption is very much a work in progress – everything from our draft cryptographic design, which was just published last week, to our continued discussions around which customers it would apply to,” said a spokesperson as per a report by The Verge.

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Thanks to the Coronavirus pandemic, that has forced most people into the confines of their homes, video calling applications are seeing some major growth. One of the biggest players in it right now is Zoom. However, the app’s security is always a raised question because of the intrusions, often called “Zoombombings”.

Why Zoom can’t encrypt all video calls

Even once end-to-end encryption is provided, customers who call in with their phone lines would be excluded. Moreover, encrypting every call would nullify the ability for Zoom’s own security team to add themselves to calls to help customers in need.

The new update for both the PC and phone app came a few days ago and Zoom has been asking its users to update ahead of May 30. Since yesterday, the old app versions are no longer functional for video calls since 256-bit encryptions are now being used.

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Zoom wants users to update version before May 30

“Beginning May 30th, 2020, Zoom will be enabling GCM encryption across the entire Zoom platform, providing increased protection for meeting data,” said the company not long ago. The app earlier offered 128-bit encryption. This layer is considered to be less secure than the new 256-bit version.

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