‘War Dialing’ tool exposes Zoom’s password problems (krebsonsecurity.com)

Article summary

A tool called zWarDial has been used to expose Zoom's password problems, finding that many meetings at major corporations are not protected by a password. The tool can find approximately 100 meetings per hour and has a success rate of around 14 percent. Zoom has acknowledged that its password-by-default approach may fail under certain circumstances. The company has advised users to implement passwords for all meetings to ensure security.

Main themes

• Zoom security
• password protection
• meeting IDs
• dial-in convenience
• usability vs security
• video conferencing risks

What commenters say

• Using short meeting IDs without passwords is a security risk, but longer IDs may be inconvenient for dial-in users.
• The trade-off between security and usability is a challenge for Zoom and its users.
• Some users rely on dialing in to meetings and would be inconvenienced by longer meeting IDs or passwords.
• Enabling password protection by default is essential to prevent unauthorized access to meetings.
• Zoom's password-by-default approach may not be working as intended, and users should take extra precautions to secure their meetings.
• The use of phone dial-ins is more common than expected, and Zoom should consider this when designing its security features.
• A balance between security and convenience is necessary to make Zoom usable for all users.