'Not a safe platform': India bans government officials from using Zoom -- but offers up some great security advice

The unrelenting criticism of Zoom continues, with India being the latest to slap an official ban on the video conferencing tool.

Voicing concerns that Zoom is "not a safe platform", the Indian Cyber Coordination Centre issued an advisory saying that the tool is "not for use by government offices/officials for official purpose". But the country recognizes that many people will want or need to continue using Zoom and the ministry of home affairs has issued a helpful guide to safe use of the service.

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In the advisory notice, titled "Advisory on Secure use of Zoom meeting platform by private individuals (not for use by government offices/officials for official purpose)", the Cyber Coordination Centre notes that "Zoom is a not a safe platform and advisory of CERT-In [Indian Computer Emergency Response Team] on the same dated Feb 06, 2020 and March 30, 2020 may kindly be referred".

But while the advisory says that Zoom should not be used by officials, it then goes on to explain in some detail the settings individuals can use to help make things more secure.

Over the course of 16 pages, the security center provides numerous tips to, in its own words:

• prevent unauthorised entry in the conference room
• prevent an authorised participant to carry out malicious on the terminals of other in the conference
• avoid DOS attack by restricting users through passwords and access grant

It points out that while the majority of settings can be accessed an implemented through Zoom apps or via the website, there are some that can only be adjusted by administrators.

If you're someone who wants or needs to keep using Zoom, it's worth taking a look at the document here.

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