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Pepperdine | Community

CIO’s Perspective on Zoom Security

Zoom has been hit from all sides, and they have also been highly responsive to their user base.

Zoom logo with two safe dials

Pepperdine students, faculty, and staff are familiar with Zoom as one of the university's two approved web-conferencing platforms.  In recent weeks, Zoom has experienced an accelerated global adoption because of precautions related to COVID-19.  Many educational institutions have since adopted Zoom as a vehicle for remote teaching, learning and working. As the number of Zoom users has increased significantly, Zoom has been criticized in the media for things like privacy and security.  User concerns range from platform encryption to Zoombombing.  Some companies have also gone so far as to ban the video conferencing platform from their networks; whatever their reasons may be, I respect their decisions.  But, here's my take.

There is no one perfect solution in the marketplace.  If you're looking for one, you're wasting your time, because such a thing does not exist.  Zoom is not a perfect organization, and neither are Google, Oracle, Salesforce, Microsoft, or Apple.  For these organizations, including Pepperdine, there is and will always be room for improvement.

I am actually glad that Zoom is getting criticized, because in my opinion, criticism is fuel for improvement.  I would not be surprised if these criticisms were flamed by Zoom's competitors because of Zoom's sudden rise to prominence.  Under the global microscope, Zoom has been hit from all sides, and they have also been highly responsive to the criticisms and to their user base, as you can read in the Zoom CEO's message.  Zoom is continuously improving its platform for its users, as demonstrated by the recent setting changes made to combat Zoombombing.

The Zoom video conferencing platform works and is meeting Pepperdine's needs during these unprecedented times.  Just as you would not share your password or ATM pin code in a Gmail message, you should not share any sensitive information over a Zoom session.  I encourage you to follow these best practices to safeguard and enjoy your Zoom sessions.

Zoom is listening to its users: let's continue giving them the feedback they need.