Google has banned its employees from using the desktop app of Zoom, the hugely popular video-calling app, that people are using these days to work from home amidst the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
According to Buzzfeed, Google sent an email to its employees last week notifying that the video-conferencing app would no longer work on their machines from this week, citing “security vulnerabilities” within Zoom. However, the employees could use the Zoom app to stay in touch with family and friends through mobile apps and browsers.
“We have long had a policy of not allowing employees to use unapproved apps for work that are outside of our corporate network. Recently, our security team informed employees using Zoom Desktop Client that it will no longer run on corporate computers as it does not meet our security standards for apps used by our employees,” Jose Castaneda, a spokesperson for Google, told BuzzFeed News.
“Employees who have been using Zoom to stay in touch with family and friends can continue to do so through a web browser or via mobile.”
Zoom has been receiving backlash over sloppy privacy and security protections. The firm’s CEO Eric Yuan also acknowledged the concerns by saying: “[We] recognize that we have fallen short of the community’s – and our own – privacy and security expectations. For that, I am deeply sorry.”
Recently, Zoom announced a 90-day feature freeze and dedicate its resources to identify, address and fix the existing security issues within the service. During this period, no new features would be rolled out until the current feature set is fixed.
Earlier SpaceX banned its employees to use Zoom. On April 8th Taiwan cabinet asked all its government agencies to stop using “products with security concerns, like Zoom”.
