Zoom, on Wednesday, officially rolled out the updated version of its video-conferencing tool Zoom 5.0 making it generally available. The new version includes multiple security enhancements as part of Zoom’s 90-day plan.
The company has been working on improving the security of its software after drawing flak for multiple privacy and security issues.
The details of the update’s new feature were shared last week in XEO Eric Yuan’s weekly webinar.
More security
Zoom 5.0 includes support for AES 256-bit GCM encryption, which provides added protection for meeting data and greater resistance to tampering, the company said.
It currently supports the current encryption and GCM encryption. However, system-wide account enablement to GCM encryption will occur on May 30, 2020, it said. With the update only those Zoom clients on version 5.0 or later, including Zoom Rooms, will be able to join Zoom Meetings starting May 30.
The new version also includes a ‘report user’ feature that enables meeting hosts and co-hosts to report a user in their meeting. The reported user can be kicked out of the meeeting. If ejected from the meeting, the user cannot rejoin the meeting.
The new version includes a security icon which gives user access to the new security features including the report user feature.
“The report can include a specific offence, description, and optional screenshot. The ‘Report a User’ function is on by default, but can be turned off at the account, group and user-level in the Zoom web portal,” Zoom said.
Selecting data centre regions
The paid version of Zoom 5.0 allows meeting hosts to select data centre regions at the scheduling level for meetings and webinars. For instance, users in India can select out of Zoom’s two data centres in India to redirect their meeting data.
The Zoom client will show which data centre a user is connected to in the Info icon in the upper left of your Zoom window. Users can also get details of the same along with additional in-meeting information by selecting ‘statistics’ in the ‘video settings’ in the meeting controls.
“Additionally, if organizations outside of China did not opt into the China data centre before the April 25 deadline, those accounts will not be able to connect to mainland China for data transit,” it said.
Other new features included in Zoom 5.0 are profile picture control, minimum password length and Cloud recording security. Users can upgrade to Zoom 5.0 by visiting the Zoom download page.