Zoom will implement new security measures for its free users in response to a growing number of ‘Zoom-bombing’ incidents.

The company said on Wednesday it will be updating default password settings for all account types and it will also require that users set passwords for meetings and webinars, including events which were scheduled before 9 May, when the new measures are set to be implemented.

Zoom will also make its Waiting Room feature enabled by default for the Personal Meeting ID for all account types.

In a move which is likely a response to the numerous ‘Zoom-bombing’ incidents, where hackers crash a meeting to share offensive content, the company also announced that their Screen sharing feature will be limited to the host exclusively. With this, even if hackers manage to join a video conference, they will not be able to show other users offensive content from their screens.

While all free/basic accounts will see the changes implemented this week, Pro, API, Business, Education, and Enterprise accounts will receive the update on 30 May.

The announcement comes after an online tasting event, hosted by a Prestwich-based wine merchant, was hacked by a ‘Zoom-bomber’, who shared child porn material to the 60-70 unsuspecting participants.

Last month, Zoom’s stock price dropped nearly 14.5%, as numerous school systems, including the New York City Department of Education, moved to ban Zoom entirely. The video conferencing platform has also been outlawed by Google, SpaceX, and the FBI.

Zoom also announced on Wednesday the appointment of a new independent director on Zoom’s Board of Directors, the role being given to former US National Security Advisor Lieutenant General Herbert Raymond “H.R.” McMaster. The company also chose Jonathan “Josh” Kallmer to take over as the head of Global Public Policy and Government Relations, starting 26 May.

Last week, Zoom quietly edited a blog post claiming the number of daily users the platform had. The company stated earlier this month that it had “more than 300 million daily users” and “more than 300 million people around the world are using Zoom during this challenging time”. These claims have since been deleted, and the company now says it has “300 million daily Zoom meeting participants.”

​Cloud data services provider NetApp has announced the acquisition of CloudJumper, a leading player in the remote desktop services (RDS) and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) markets.

The acquisition is said to have resulted in a new NetApp Virtual Desktop Service (VDS) which aims to resolve the most demanding issues faced in virtual desktop services and application management.

It is also said to provide customers with a total solution on the public cloud of their choice in order to deploy, manage, and monitor applications, as well as optimisation, the company explained.

Anthony Lye, senior vice president and general manager of NetApp’s Cloud Data Services business unit, said that providing “a consistent virtual desktop experience at scale while keeping data available and secure without sacrificing performance has always been important and is especially critical in today’s unprecedented environment”.

“NetApp and CloudJumper provide a simplified management platform for delivering virtual desktop infrastructure, storage and data management across Microsoft Azure, AWS and Google Cloud with best in class virtual desktop management combined with best in class storage and data services,” he added.

NetApp is said to contribute to the existing CloudJumper channel partner program by providing resources to strengthen the capabilities of MSP, VAR, SI, and ISV partners in order to resolve customer issues and expand their businesses.

NetApp VDS will also provide CloudJumper’s customers with flexible and adaptable data storage, according to NetApp, which includes features such as global file caching and backup, which will assist businesses in moving their operations to the cloud

NetApp VDS is available immediately on the NetApp Cloud Central site. It will also be integrated with Azure NetApp Files and Cloud Volumes in the near future.

Cloud services have, to an extent, escaped the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown. Google Cloud has experienced a 52% year-on-year surge in revenue for the first quarter of 2020, while Microsoft beat Wall Street expectations on Wednesday following increased demand in its cloud-based services such as Teams and Xbox.​

Google has announced that, starting this summer, all advertisers will have to be verified before they are allowed to buy ad space on the search engine’s platform.

The announcement is Google’s latest effort to make their advertising practices more transparent, following the recent surge in online coronavirus scams, which take advantage of users’ fear of contracting the virus by selling fake medical masks. Earlier this week, the NCSC reported that it had taken down 2,000 online scams, of which 471 were from fake online shops.

Director of Product Management, Ads Integrity John Canfield, said that “advertisers will be required to complete a verification program in order to buy ads on our network”.

On 23 March, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new measures were being introduced in an attempt to slow down the spread of the highly-infectious COVID-19 virus. Daily life changed from one day to another. As hospitals filled with new patients, offices were abandoned. Restaurants and cafes closed. Many public transport stations became completely empty for the first time in decades, if not centuries. For the employees who have been lucky enough to keep their jobs and work from home, life went on, one way or another.  And while there are many social media posts extolling the virtues of working in tracksuit bottoms all day, other people have found their work/life balance has suffered tremendously. 

To mark the first full month since Britain went into lockdown, we spoke to some workers who are feeling the downsides to working from home and asked why they are looking forward to returning to the office.

Productivity – lost in communication?

Working from home can be isolating, especially for those who are used to spending up to 40 hours a week in a busy environment with an abundance of social interaction. Charlie Worrall, Digital Marketing Executive at web design agency Imaginaire Digital, misses the simplicity of face-to-face communication with colleagues.

“Having never had to work from home before, this has all been a new experience for me. It’s really come to make me appreciate how good our office really is,” Worrall tells IT Pro. From his perspective, shifting the day-to-day conversations to a digital sphere has heavily impacted the quality of communication.

“I find that the simplest of conversations tend to become drawn out, for example, instead of just asking the person next to me a question, I instead use the likes of email, Whatsapp or Slack to contact them. If they don’t reply for a while I might call them and eventually get the answers I needed. All of this just creates an inconvenience, however, I completely understand why we need to go through the process of a lockdown and take social distancing very seriously.”

Kerry Sheahan, Head of Content & PR at FSE Digital, a digital agency specialising in search marketing, counts technical difficulties and the change in coworker interactions as the main downsides to working from home during the lockdown.

“We’re a digital agency, so obviously we’re all well-versed in using digital tools, but sometimes people forget there’s a difference between using digital tools for marketing, and general IT knowledge. I could write you an essay on the intricacies of on-page SEO elements, but if my Outlook stops working I’m FaceTiming our IT guys,” she says.

“The other thing for me, is that while we’re all making an effort to stay connected, you don’t see people’s initial reaction to your ideas. We all tend to be polite over email, and if we jump on a call, we’ve normally had a quick brief on what we’re going to cover. For me, someone’s honest opinions to new marketing ideas we’re bouncing around comes in that split-second reaction they can’t control when you first share your ideas.”

Her colleague, head of SEO Sam Mead, agrees. “Even though we are using technology to stay connected, we’re missing that ability to shout across the office or just approach somebody for an update or catch up. Ultimately this is leading to certain aspects of projects being slowed down, and reducing productivity in some ways,” he says.

Security is everything

According to a new survey from Atlas Cloud, a UK-based managed service provider that specialises in managed cloud services and hosting solutions, more than half of homeworkers (57%) believe their company should be doing more to help them be more productive. While four in five office workers (79%) now based at home believe the lockdown has proven they can work efficiently in such an environment, around a fifth (19%) said they need their company to act urgently to enable them to work productively during the lockdown.

Atlas Cloud CEO, Pete Watson, thinks the current situation is “the largest overnight change in British working habits since the outbreak of the Second World War”. 

“Our research shows that the majority of office workers believe they need more help from their employers to cope with the technological challenges of working from home,” he says. 

A third of workers (34%) said their work was being hampered by the poor performance of their home internet connection, while 24% complained of having to log in to too many separate software packages and apps while working from home. One in five respondents said they could not access the computer files they need while working from home (22%) or complained that the quality of the laptop, desktop or tablet they were using to work on from home was negatively affecting their work productivity (20%).

Using your work tech at home also creates a security nightmare. According to Watson, “office workers may not be working from home as safely, from a business and cyber security [perspective], as they could be”.

A quarter of employees are using a personal laptop for home working, with half of them admitting to storing work files on their personal device, which raises considerable concerns about the security of business information.

Cyber security is an issue that businesses will have to deal with if working from home is here to stay. In only one month, the coronavirus lockdown has already drastically changed the traditional working landscape, showing everyone that a meeting really can be an email. In fact, it might mark the end of office culture as we know it, with employees never returning en masse to their desks. But despite the slog of a commute or annoying lack of soy milk in the cafeteria fridge, many people miss the experience of working together in person: priceless social interactions, a quick nod to approve a decision, the sound of laughter at an inside joke, or some priceless gossip by the coffee machine. Dear Office, we miss you.

​Google has added the option for its Gmail business and education users to take calls through its video conferencing tool Meet, following a demand for more secure video conferencing tools.

Google Meet is available only to schools, businesses, and governments, as opposed to its more consumer-focused Hangouts platform, which can be joined by anybody with a Google account.

The integration of Gmail and Meets is the first of several other functionalities that are to be added later this month. Google vice president Javier Soltero told Reuters that the company has also decided to roll out several other features ahead of schedule due to the surge in demand for video conferencing tools.

The move is likely to capitalise on Google’s reputation for providing secure tools, as many are becoming wary of video conferencing security breaches such as ‘Zoom-bombing’.

Meet is also set to offer a Zoom-like layout displaying up to 16 call participants at once, as well as improving video quality in dim lighting and the ability to filter background noise such as keyboard clicks.

Google Meet usage has surged 25 times amid the coronavirus pandemic and earlier this month Soltero revealed that Google Meet was adding over 2 million new users every day.

“They’re spending over 2 billion minutes together – that’s more than 3,800 years of secure meetings in a single day,” he wrote in a blog post.

Google has also announced that it would be extending the free availability of advanced Google Meet video-conferencing capabilities for all G Suite and G Suite for Education customers until 30 September 2020.

This follows the news that Microsoft pledged to work with the 27,000 schools in the UK, helping them run lessons remotely using Microsoft Teams, Office 365, as well as software such as Minecraft: Education Edition, Flipgrid, Skype in the Classroom and InTune.

​Google Cloud has announced that it will be joining a new alliance of data analytics companies that aims to support businesses and governments in recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.

Emer2gent is set to combine traditional economic, business, travel and retail data sets with behaviour and sentiment data, in order to facilitate the global economic recovery from the downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic. It describes itself as “an alliance of partners sharing data and expertise to build economic resilience”.

Led by Rolls-Royce, it already counts IBM, Leeds Institute for Data Analytics, The Data City, Truata, and ODI Leeds as its members.

Google Cloud is the latest to join the group and will provide its Public Datasets and BigQuery cloud data warehouse, which aims to assist businesses in making informed decisions quickly and ease their transformation.

Google Cloud’s manufacturing and industrial lead for the UK and Ireland, Rajh Das, said that the company is “proud to be involved in such an important project as we all work together to support business globally during these extraordinary times”.

IBM is to provide its public cloud, the IBM Cloud Pak for Data, and high-performance computing, as well as subject matter expertise from its Data Science Elite team.

“IBM looks forward to joining our existing partners and valued clients in this initiative,” said Andrew Brown, general manager for IBM Cloud & Cognitive Software Europe. “It is hoped IBM’s contribution will help accomplish the identification of proven use cases, to assist where recovery indicators emerge for countries, governments, state agencies and supporting companies to best respond to the next phase of the improvement in the pandemic.”

Caroline Gorski, global director for R2 Data Labs, the Rolls-Royce data innovation catalyst behind the alliance, expressed her hopes for the swift recovery of the world economy.

“Our data innovation community can help do this and is at its best when it comes together for the common good,” she said. “People, businesses and governments around the world have changed the way they spend, move, communicate and travel because of COVID-19 and we can use that insight, along with other data, to provide the basis for identifying what new insights and trends may emerge that signify the world’s adjustment to a new normal after the pandemic.”

Google Cloud’s announcement comes a month after the news that the company had joined Lloyd’s digital transformation project which aims to upgrade the UK bank’s IT systems to compete in the increasingly digitised world of finance.

Standard Chartered has become the first major bank to ban the use of Zoom and Google Hangouts among its employees due to cybersecurity concerns.

In a memo seen by Reuters, CEO Bill Winters told managers not to use the popular video communication services, joining an array of companies and governments who have banned Zoom in the last weeks.

A Standard Chartered spokeswoman told Reuters that cyber security remains a top priority and that staff can use several authorized tools for audio and video conferencing.

Winters’ decision to warn employees against using Google Hangouts is rather unprecedented, as Alphabet’s platform for virtual gatherings has not earned the same reputation for cybersecurity issues as Zoom.

Zoom has been plagued by security concerns since it saw a surge in users following COVID-19 remote working boom. It’s been revealed that the company doesn’t use end-to-end encryption, despite specifically stating that it does on its website, while incidents of ‘Zoom-bombing’ have forced governments, businesses and schools alike to ban the use of the platform.

Last week, Zoom founder Eric Yuan told CNN that the company had “moved too fast” and should have done more to enforce password and meeting room security.

Neither Google Hangouts nor Zoom boasts the same level of encryption as more secure business-oriented communication platforms, such as Cisco WebEx or Microsoft Teams. Two employees who were not authorized to speak on the matter told Reuters that Standard Chartered uses the latter.

However, even the most secure platforms are not immune to security threats. The Cofense Phishing Defense Center recently discovered a new phishing campaign that aims to harvest WebEx credentials using a security warning for the application. The campaign has managed to successfully avert Cisco’s own Secure Email Gateway.

Last month, Microsoft Teams went down across Europe for two hours, causing mass frustration for the many remote workers who had begun remote working amid the coronavirus pandemic. The platform had gained 12 million users in just one week following a surge of remote working.​

​Microsoft has announced that it will assist all UK schools in getting set up for remote learning, in order to help students continue to learn while at home.

The company has pledged to work with the 27,000 schools in the UK, helping them run lessons remotely using Microsoft Teams, Office 365, as well as software such as Minecraft: Education Edition, Flipgrid, Skype in the Classroom and InTune.

The tools are available to use on mobile devices, tablets, PCs and browsers, and focus on encouraging teamwork by allowing collaborations, communication and file sharing in real-time. Microsoft emphasised that the tools “offer a safe and secure learning environment, using intelligent security features enhanced by machine learning to protect data and identities”.

Microsoft UK’s director of education, Chris Rothwell, praised teachers for “showing incredible resilience, imagination, and passion to ensure that they can help keep children safe and can keep learning while they at home”.

“Technology is helping teachers keep in touch with students and to maintain a connection to the school and each other,” he said. “This offer to support any school get fully set up for remote learning is so that every school and pupil can benefit, and that learning can continue while schools are closed.”

In order to support teaching staff, Microsoft has also launched webinars aiming to promote the benefits of Teams. The topics covered include creating an online classroom, keeping students engaged with online meetings, as well as assisting IT Administrators in setting up Teams for online collaboration.

Schools across the UK have been closed since 20 March, allowing only vulnerable pupils and the children of key workers, such as NHS staff, to attend. Latest reports indicate that schools are not planning to reopen after Easter break.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has banned its employees from using video conferencing app Zoom, citing concerns over the app’s ability to keep users secure.

A similar ban has been issued by one of SpaceX’s biggest customers, NASA, coming into force after the FBI issued a warning about “Zoom-bombing” – hackers disrupting video conferences with threatening language, hate speech and pornographic images.

Zoom has previously admitted that it is “currently not possible” to enable end-to-end encryption for its video meetings.

In an email seen by Reuters, SpaceX informed its staff that all access to Zoom had been disabled with immediate effect.

“We understand that many of us were using this tool for conferences and meeting support,” the message read. “Please use email, text or phone as alternate means of communication.”

It’s not known whether the ban also extends to Tesla, which is also owned by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. The company was unable to respond to requests for comment at the time of publication.

Zoom has surged to more than 200 million daily meeting participants after employees around the world were asked to work from home to slow the pace of the fast-spreading coronavirus pandemic. On 5 March, Slack, Facebook, and Microsoft had all advised their employees to work remotely following the spread of the virus to the west coast of the United States. Over the course of the month, most tech giants had closed their offices, shifting all employee communications online.

Despite numerous security warnings, prime minister Boris Johnson is known to be using Zoom to hold cabinet video conferences. He was recently criticised for sharing a picture on Twitter in which a Zoom meeting ID was clearly visible.

A government spokesperson defended the PM, telling BBC News on Wednesday that “in the current unprecedented circumstances, the need for effective channels of communication is vital”.

The news comes days after a class-action lawsuit was filed against Zoom, the compliant alleging the service illegally shared user data with Facebook. Zoom’s founder and CEO, Eric S. Yuan, announced over a blog post that over the next three months, the company will work to “better identify, address, and fix issues proactively”.

The UK government is reportedly preparing to launch an app that will warn users if they are in close proximity to someone who has tested positive for coronavirus.

The contact-tracking app will be released just before the lockdown is lifted or in its immediate aftermath, Sky News has reported and will use short-range Bluetooth signals to detect other phones in close vicinity and then store a record of those contacts on the device.

If somebody tests positive for COVID-19, they will be able to upload those contacts, who can then be alerted – via the app.

This means that the data will not be regularly shared with a central authority, potentially easing concerns around privacy violations.

If people with the app later test positive for coronavirus, they could allow all the folks they’ve been near to be informed, so those people could self-isolate.

Jim Killock, executive director of the Open Rights Group, told IT Pro that the new app, and similar developments, might “prove to be important tools in the fight against COVID-19”. However, he also raised concerns about the privacy of users.

“Nevertheless, we are concerned that [the] government needs to put more effort into helping people understand their approach to privacy more generally, and improve their communications vastly. Building a project like this at speed carries privacy, security and delivery risks, so the more information that is given out the better,” he said.

NHSX, the innovation arm of the UK’s National Health Service, will reportedly appoint an ethics board to oversee the development of the app, with its board members set to be announced over the coming weeks.

“It is good that they are thinking about the privacy of users – this is essential to build trust and confidence so people use it,” said Killock.

Questions might arise over the effectiveness of the app, as large numbers of people will be required to use it in order for it to work efficiently. The NHS is reportedly counting on the app being downloaded by more than 50% of the population.

“NHSX is looking at whether app-based solutions might be helpful in tracking and managing coronavirus, and we have assembled expertise from inside and outside the organization to do this as rapidly as possible,” an NHSX spokesperson said.

Only last week, the NHSX and Matt Hancock MP were urged to follow steps that would guarantee that new technologies used to tackle the coronavirus outbreak abide by data protection ethics.

In an open letter signed by numerous “responsible technologists”, they were asked to take urgent steps to ensure that the public’s trust in the NHS is not undermined by possible data breaches.