Rwanda warns against the use of Zoom over security concerns

Rwanda Information Society Authority (RISA) has advised against the use of ZOOM software and instructed the public institutions to stop using the video conferencing software. According to Innocent Bagamba Muhizi, Chief Executive Officer at RISA, the platform is believed to be having security vulnerabilities. “We stopped using it and we issued a guideline to government institutions halting its use,” Muhizi said. “It (Zoom) has security vulnerabilities and until they are fixed, we do not recommend its usage.” The vulnerabilities include routing user data through China over the past month to cope with a dramatic rise in traffic after stating that users’ meeting information would stay in the country of origin and built-in attention-tracking features to recent upticks in Zoombombing in which uninvited attendees break into and disrupt meetings with hate-filled or pornographic content. Other vulnerabilities include a data-mining feature on Zoom that allowed some participants to surreptitiously have access to LinkedIn profile data about other users and call data being sent back to the company without the end-to-end encryption as promised in its marketing materials. The video communications platform took the world by the storm recently when people were self-quarantining and countries under lockdown as a way to repress the spread of the pandemic. This prompted people to switch to virtual connections as well as carry out their tasks and meetings from work virtually using online platforms such as Zoom. In just a few months, its user base shot up from 10 million to 200 million people. Alternatives of zoom With security concerns becoming difficult to hide, a lot of other institutions and companies worldwide such as Google, the US senate, SpaceX, German Health Ministry and Taiwan Government naming but a few, have halted the use of the platform adopting alternatives. For the case of Rwanda, Muhizi said they shared alternatives such as webex (a tool that allows users to host or participate in video conferencing, online meetings, and screen sharing, with up to 1,000 participants allowed in a virtual meeting room) and Teams (collaboration platform that combines persistent workplace chat, video meetings, file storage (including collaboration on files), and application integration) in their guidelines to public institutions. Other alternatives include signal, skype, facetime, Google hangouts to name but a few. Meanwhile, Rwanda is still under lockdown where only essential service providers or seekers are allowed to move and so far, no death has been registered among 110 people who have tested positive for COVID-19.

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Rwanda warns against the use of Zoom over security concerns