US School Districts Banning Zoom As Security Concerns Multiply

Zoom has seen an incredible boost in user numbers as a result of the pandemic lockdowns in place around the world - active user numbers have rocketed from around 10 million to 200 million in a couple of short weeks. The downside of that has been the company's reputation has been shot to pieces, with all sorts of security failings, vulnerabilities and the exposure of poor design and implementation of key features.

US School districts are starting to take notice and over the last few days a number have decided that the continued use of Zoom is unacceptable. Schools are being directed to other solutions, mainly Microsoft Teams which, despite some hiccups resulting from a similar leap in utilisation, has proven to be a robust and secure solution to bringing classes together remotely.

What this means for Zoom's long-term future is unclear. In theory such much pushback on such core failings would doom a product, but in this case the significant leap in brand recognition can only be good for the company. It has recently admitted its failings, halted all new feature development and switched its teams to resolving known issues. Potentially it comes out of this experience a stronger and more capable company.

In the meantime, I would strongly recommend Microsoft Teams as a solution for collaborative working whilst that remains something so many need to do. My own organisation has been using it successfully, as has the school my children attend. With Microsoft making it available to more users and extending the no cost option, there's really no need to expose yourself to the weaknesses of Zoom right now.