Coronavirus COVID-19: Google bans Zoom for its employees citing security concerns

Search engine giant Google has banned its employees from using the Zoom teleconferencing platform due to security concerns.

It is to be noted that Zoom has become hugely popular across the globe as one most used services for free video chatting since the outbreak of coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. 

Buzzfeed reported that Google has sent a mail to all its employees last week about the ban informing them that the Zoom app installed on their Google-provided machines will not work anymore. Google has offered its own enterprise Zoom competitor called Meet to all its employees.

“We have long had a policy of not allowing employees to use unapproved apps for work that are outside of our corporate network,” Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda told The Verge. “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. 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.”

Few days ago, officials in New York City had banned Zoom in schools for remote teaching citing privacy issues. “Providing a safe and secure remote learning experience for our students is essential, and upon further review of security concerns, schools should move away from using Zoom as soon as possible. There are many new components to remote learning, and we are making real-time decisions in the best interest of our staff and students," said Danielle Filson, a spokesperson for the New York City Dept. of Education. 

The New York City Department of Education has directed the schools to use Microsoft Teams, which the spokesperson said has the “same capabilities with appropriate security measures in place.”