Zoom will let customers choose data centers for routing calls
It has become dichotomous for video-conferencing giant Zoom. On one hand, its user have sky-rocketed, but on the other, those users are fast losing confidence, given the shady security practices of the company. Now, in order to allay concerns around the privacy of Zoom app, it has announced its plan to let customers choose the data centers through which their calls would be routed.
Ability to opt-in or out of specific data centers
A few hours ago, Zoom shared a blog post announcing the decision to let admins and owners of paid accounts opt-in or opt-out of specific data center regions at the group/account/user level. The ability, the company says, would go into effect starting April 18 but you won't be able to use it to opt out of your default location, where the account is provisioned.
Zoom was criticized for routing traffic through China
The new option comes after Zoom drew major flak for using Chinese servers to generate encryption keys for some calls - even when none of the participants in those meetings were located in China. This looks like a minor issue, but experts argued that it gives the authoritarian state power to order Zoom to disclose the data passing through its boundaries.
Free users won't be able to change data center region
It's also worth noting that the new selection option is only for those on a paid plan. If you are on the free tier, Zoom says the account would use the default data center or one located at some other location. However, the company assures free users that none of their calls would be routed through China if they are not physically located there.
Zoom's data centers are also located in other regions
To note, along with China, Zoom also uses data centers in Australia, Canada, Europe, India, Japan/Hong Kong, Latin America, and the US for the purpose of routing virtual meetings' data.
This adds to measures being taken by Zoom
When Zoom was caught redirecting traffic through China, its CEO Eric Yuan acknowledged that they "failed to fully implement usual geo-fencing best practices" and "certain meetings were allowed to connect to systems in China." However, in the subsequent weeks, the company took major steps, including the latest measure, to ramp up the security of its platform and the meetings taking place on it.
Recently, Zoom had also established a security council
Prior to this, Zoom had also announced an information security council consisting of industry's leading security experts to help the company flag and address issues revolving around the safety and privacy of its video calling platform.
