Schools of New York refused Zoom VIDEOCONFERENCING service because of a concern of draining of data

At the beginning of April, 2020 schools of New York refused use of Zoom service for distance learning because of security of a videoconference service. Instead schools will pass to Microsoft services.

Prohibition will cover about 1.1 million pupils from more than 1800 schools. The decision on Zoom prohibition at schools was made by a command of cyber security of New York which was founded in 2018 and deals with security of city services. The marketing director of Zoom Janine Pelosi claims that the company conducts negotiations with the city administration.

Schools of New York refused use of Zoom service for distance learning because of security of a videoconference service

Ensuring safe and reliable distance learning — extremely important task therefore schools should refuse Zoom use as soon as possible — the representative of Department of Education of New York Danielle Filson announced. — We make decisions for the benefit of our employees and pupils.

Prohibition became the answer to criticism of Zoom company, in particular, of privacy policy and cyber security. Hundreds of millions of users are forced to work during a pandemic from the house and pass to different platforms of video conference, but Zoom did not cope with influx of new users. Insufficient confidential data protection became the reason of numerous leaks, and because of default settings on network took place waves of cyber attacks of "Zoombombing" which was used for mailing of video and text messages of offensive contents.

Not all schools perceive transition easily. Zoom quickly became popular service after closing of city schools, and representatives of the city administration do not exclude possible return of pupils to Zoom. The Department of Education reports that it "continues to trace and analyze the events connected with sersisy Zoom" and will announce schools any changes.^[1]

Notes