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| Britain |
| UK Intel Tells Government Officials Not to Use Zoom Citing China Fears |
| 2020-04-26 |
| [LI] British lawmakers and government officials have been told not to use the video conferencing platform Zoom due to concerns over Chinese surveillance, the London-based newspaper Guardian reported on Friday. The UK intelligence agency, Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), cautioned them against using the web-based service for official or confidential matters — especially if they relate to China. The top British Intelligence service specifically warned the senior Members of Parliament "not use it to talk about things detrimental to the interests of China," the daily added. The revelation comes as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been using the video conferencing service to hold Cabinet meetings in the wake of the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, the BBC recently reported. In the United States, too, the service was still being used by military and government officials, recent news reports confirm. Skipping down to the BLUF: The FBI has also warned about cyber security concerns surrounding the platform. The hackers could use the app to "steal sensitive information, target individuals and businesses performing financial transactions, and engage in extortion," the agency cautioned earlier this month. Researchers at the University of Toronto uncovered that Zoom’s encryption keys were issued by Chinese servers "even when call participants were outside of China," thereby making them vulnerable to Beijing’s surveillance, the Business Insider magazine reported. Following these alarming reports, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan admitted routing "some calls" made in North America through China "by mistake." Taiwan and Australia, major targets of Chinese espionage, have already banned the official used of Zoom. Elon Musk’s commercial space company SpaceX has also ditched the service over similar fears. The revelation once again highlight Communist China’s growing government and corporate spying activities across the world. In recent years, Beijing has perfected cyber espionage as a preferred tool for gathering information on its geopolitical rivals and appears to be bridging the technology gap by spying on foreign firms. According to a U.S. Justice Department report in 2018, China was behind 90 percent of all economic espionage cases handled by the agency. The West’s increasing dependence on China-based technology service providers makes it more and more vulnerable to Beijing’s spy operations. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #3 Hmm. Pretty much all I use zoom for is Bible study groups. Maybe the Chinese eavesdroppers would learn something. |
| Posted by: James 2020-04-26 18:24 |
| #2 Didn't the Germans do this as well a few weeks ago? |
| Posted by: Clem 2020-04-26 08:29 |
| #1 The FBI has also warned about cyber security concerns surrounding the platform. "We don't want the Chinese hearing us talk bad about them." |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2020-04-26 08:26 |