Zoom Responds To Security And Privacy Concerns With 5.0 Update

“Zoombombing” is a thing of the past as Zoom released its 5.0 update today, which addresses security and privacy concerns.

After facing quite some heat, Zoom promised a 90-day feature freeze, giving the company some time to fix privacy and security issues. And that’s exactly what happened: this week, the company released the Zoom 5.0 update, only 20 days after CEO Eric S. Yuan promised changes.

Zoom 5.0 comes with a new security icon that regroups most of Zoom’s security features into one easy-to-access menu. You can use the shortcut to lock meetings, remove participants, as well as restrict screen-sharing and chatting during meetings.

The new version also enables passwords by default for all users. IT admins can jump in and define the level of password complexity required for Zoom business users. Zoom has also made its waiting room feature default for basic, single-license Pro, and education accounts.

Waiting rooms allow the host to hold participants in a virtual room before allowing them to join a meeting.

The app has also improved some of its encryption and has upgraded to the AES 256-bit GCM encryption standard. While this is still not true end-to-end encryption, it brings extra security to your meetings.

After quickly rising to the top when millions of students and employees were forced to stay at home, Zoom faced criticism when many users reported issues with uninvited guests showing up in online classrooms, meetings, or happy hours.