Zoom's upcoming update will give users the ability to report Zoombombers

The coronavirus pandemic has seen a rise in the use of Zoom but the company has been struggling to maintain user privacy. The company, however, has faced a lot of backlash for not taking customer privacy seriously which forced the company to freeze feature releases for 90-days to patch the neverending list of vulnerabilities. Just a week back, we reported how Zoom users’ credentials were sold by hackers on the dark web.

Today the company has published a new blog post detailing the new update which will further address the security issues. The new update is geared towards the Zoombombings and will allow users to report participants to Zoom. You can head below to check out the changelog for the update:

Changes to existing features

• Remove searching for same domain contacts
  Users will no longer be able to search by full name for contacts with the same domain if they are not on the same account or organization. To continue chatting with contacts outside of their Zoom account, they can add them as external contacts.
• Enhanced privacy design on user profile page
  Personal information, such as email address, personal meeting ID and phone number, will be partially masked with asterisks (*). Full details will only be shown when the user explicitly clicks on the “show” option.
• Skype for Business (Lync) users will join webinars as attendees by default
  Users joining a webinar with Skype for Business (Lync) will now join as attendees by default.

New and enhanced features

• Administrator features
  • Select data center regions for meeting and webinar traffic
    Users on paid accounts can now customize which data center regions they use for their real-time meeting and webinar traffic. You can opt in or out of each specific data center region for data in transit. Your default region, which is the region where your account was provisioned, will be locked. When you opt out of a region, the regional dial-in numbers will be disabled for your meetings and webinars. Zoom Conference Room Connector (CRC) endpoints in disabled regions will also not be able to connect to your meetings or webinars. This setting is available at the account, group, and user level and can be locked at the group or account level. Data routing selections do not apply to Zoom Phone.
  • Additional data center details in Dashboard
    Dashboard will now list if any data center connected to an HTTP Tunnel (HT).
  • Link accounts to an organization
    In IM Management settings, account owners and admins can now link multiple Zoom accounts together to create an organization. Once linked as an organization, these accounts will be able to search contacts, chat, meet, and make phone calls (if eligible for Zoom Phone) with each other.
  • Setting to allow Zoom Room under the same account as host to share
    Account owners and admins can now enable or disable a setting to allow Zoom Rooms to share into the meeting when they’re on the same account as the host.
  • Setting to allow host to report participants to Zoom
    Account owners and admins can now enable a setting to allow the host to report participants to Zoom. This feature will generate a report which will be sent to the Zoom Trust and Safety team to evaluate any misuse of the platform and block a user if necessary. This setting is available at the account, group, and user level and can be locked at the group or account level. This setting requires the Zoom client version which will be released on April 26, 2020.
  • Setting to show participants’ profile pictures
    Account owners and admins can now enable or disable the ability to show participants’ profile pictures during a meeting. If this setting is disabled on the host’s account, no profile pictures will be shown during the meeting. Users will also not be able to upload a profile picture in the meeting. This setting is available at the account, group, and user level and can be locked at the group or account level. This setting requires the Zoom client version which will be released on April 26, 2020.
  • Configure cloud recording password requirements
    Account owners and admins can now configure minimum cloud recording password requirements, including a minimum length, requiring letters, numbers, special characters, or only allowing numeric passwords.
  • Enhanced encryption
    Zoom Phone SIP signaling communications from client to server occur over TLS v1.2 with AES-256 bit encryption. Zoom Phone call media is transported and protected by SRTP with AES-256 bit encryption for the latest Zoom clients, and with AES-128 bit encryption for SIP devices.
  • Require minimum length for voicemail PINs
    Account owners and admins can require a minimum amount of characters for phone users’ voicemail PINs. Voicemail PINs are needed to check voicemails on desk phones.
  • Control access to call recordings
    Account owners and admins can enable or disable phone users’ ability to access, download, or delete their own call recordings. This applies to ad hoc and automatic recordings. By default, phone users can access, download, or delete their recordings.
  • Enter multiple email addresses for porting notifications
    When submitting a porting request online, account owners and admins can enter multiple email addresses to be notified about the porting request.
  • More details for voicemail notification emails
    When viewing voicemail notification emails, account owners and admins can view additional information for the associated call including duration, date/time, and caller ID.
  • Updated routing options
    Account owners and admins can route to any extension from a call queue, auto receptionist, or shared line group.
  • Duplicate call queue or auto receptionist
    Account owners and admins can quickly set up a call queue or auto receptionist by duplicating an existing one. All settings will be copied from the original except for the extension number, phone numbers, and display name.
  • Set emergency address to any country
    Account owners and admin can set the emergency address to any country, including countries where Zoom Phone is not officially supported.
  • Assign sites using SAML mapping
    Account owners and admins can configure their SAML mapping to update a phone user’s site.
• User features
  • More details for voicemail notification emails
    When viewing voicemail notification emails, users can view additional information for the associated call including duration, date/time, and caller ID.
  • Set emergency address to any country
    Users can set the emergency address to any country, including countries where Zoom Phone is not officially supported.
• Developer features
  • Added a new request field(“embed_password_in_join_link”) to the Account/Group/User Settings APIs
    • PATCH /accounts/{accountId}/settings
    • PATCH /accounts/{accountId}/lock_settings
    • PATCH /groups/{groupId}/settings
    • PATCH /groups/{groupId}/lock_settings
    • PATCH /users/{userId}/settings
  • Added a new response field(“embed_password_in_join_link”) to the Account/Group/User Settings APIs
    • GET /accounts/{accountId}/settings
    • GET /accounts/{accountId}/lock_settings
    • GET /groups/{groupId}/settings
    • GET /groups/{groupId}/lock_settings
    • GET /users/{userId}/settings
  • Embed password in the “join_url” field when “embed_password_in_join_link” option is enabled in settings
    • POST /users/{userId}/meetings
    • GET /meetings/{meetingId}
    • POST /users/{userId}/webinars
    • GET /webinars/{webinarId}
  • Apply Master account settings to Sub account settings if Master account owner has locked those settings
    • POST /accounts

Resolved issues

• Resolved an issue where “signed-in users with specified domains” did not apply for all webinars
• Minor bug fixes

New updates for Zoom Phone devices

New and enhanced features

• Enhanced encryption
  Zoom Phone SIP signaling communications from client to server occur over TLS v1.2 with AES-256 bit encryption. Zoom Phone call media is transported and protected by SRTP with AES-128 bit encryption for SIP devices.

Zoom has said that the company will be rolling out the new update on 26th April 2020. You will need to open the Zoom client to download the new update when it’s released to the users.