Here's what services businesses are turning to for secure virtual conferences
Yahoo Finance's Tech Editor Dan Howley breaks down how cybersecurity officials feel about Zoom's cyberhacks and what other services people can use when working from home.
Video Transcript
JULIE HYMAN: Yesterday, we spoke about the decision by the New York City schools to no longer use Zoom for its remote learning. I'm seeing the shares down about 5% today. They fell yesterday as well.
Our Dan Howley, we discussed that with you yesterday, Dan. And you've been looking at some of the other platforms that are out there. There are quite a number of them. We're using one of them right now, in fact. And so what did you find in terms of some of the questions about Zoom, and what they look like on the alternatives.
DAN HOWLEY: Yeah. Just to give you an idea of how some cybersecurity professionals are feeling about Zoom. The assistant professor of cybersecurity at University of Maryland, David Levine, told me that what you are seeing is a system that largely achieves the functionality that it purports to offer, but it turns out does not achieve good security and potentially puts users at risk. So that's just his feeling on Zoom. So a lot of people certainly feeling that way. And there are alternatives out there.
We are on Google Hangouts. That is a good alternative. If you're looking for something from Google that offers end to end encryption-- which by the way, Zoom said it offers but in fact does not. You can use Google's Duo. That'll get you up to 12 people at a time on the service. Originally, they had up to eight, but they boosted it as more people are using services like it to communicate with each other at home.
There's also, if you have a business, Hangouts Meet. That can get between 100 and 250 people on at once. Then there's Whatsapp. Obviously, you need a Whatsapp account. That's tied to Facebook. But this uses end to end encryption. You only do get four people at a time, though, so that could be an issue if you want to have large groups.
Apple's FaceTime, believe it or not, gets way more people than you would expect, I believe up to 32. And that offers end to end encryption through Apple. Obviously, privacy one of the big products that they're trying to push.
Then there is the Microsoft Teams. That is, again, something that a lot of businesses are turning to now as an alternative to something like Zoom. It basically offers high level enterprise security. They say end to end encryption, but I couldn't find it specifically mentioned in their documentation.
And then there is, of course, Skype, the old standby that people used to use constantly. That's still an excellent option for a lot of people. You can get multiple users on at once, have a big chat rooms, and still continue to stay in touch with everyone that you want. So there are alternatives out there.
By the way, it's worth pointing out that Zoom said they are working on the fixes to the issues that they've had. The CEO said that they messed up in a big way, essentially. They're putting a hold on new features for 90 days so they can focus on all the issues that you have.
And if you do have Zoom still, you can password protect your room and set up a special lobby where if people tried to join without you knowing, you can kind of vet them before they enter the actual chat. And that would cut down on the issue of Zoom bombing, which we've been hearing much about.
JULIE HYMAN: Dan, thank you. Appreciate it.
